Hamlin dominates, gets 5th NASCAR win

BROOKLYN, Mich. – Just remember, Denny Hamlin says, the best is yet to come.

The present, however, is impressive enough.

Hamlin earned his fifth Sprint Cup Series win in the past 10 races, and third in the past five, with a dominating victory in Sunday’s Heluva Good! 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

At one point, Hamlin led runner-up Kasey Kahne by as much as 10 seconds.

A late-race caution bunched the field with 13 of 200 laps remaining, but all that did was make for pictures of a closer finish at the end.

“It’s a great accomplishment to win on so many different race tracks for us,” said Hamlin. His 2010 wins already represent a personal best, and there are 21 races remaining.

“To be able to unload and know you’re going to be competitive for a race win week in and week out gives you a lot of confidence. For the first time really in my career, I feel like we’re at this place.”

Those are powerful words from a driver and team that have maintained after each of their wins this season that they will be at their best later this year.

With five wins now – two more than his nearest competitor, Jimmie Johnson – what is the limit for Hamlin and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team?

“I feel like each week that we show up, we just set our bar a little bit higher than it was the week before,” Hamlin said. “You go to Pocono, everyone expects us to win. They jot us down, engrave the trophy.

“But there’s a lot of effort that goes into that. It’s not as easy as it looks. The way we’re performing now goes back six months, a year from now.”

And if Hamlin or his team should lack incentive to keep working harder, crew chief Mike Ford said they need only look in the mirror.

“Our benchmark is ourselves, and we’re just trying to work on that,” Ford said. “I think with us winning races through the middle part of the season, we’re not going to be complacent (or) fail to realize that guys are trying to play catch-up to us.

“We’re trying to play catch-up to ourselves.”

Kahne, who easily enjoyed his best run of the season and was Ford Racing's best hope on Sunday, was never seriously within reach of Hamlin or the win.

“I didn’t like watching him drive away from me, but I wasn’t surprised when he did,” Kahne said.

“They’ve been like that here for a couple months. I wasn’t surprised they were really strong.”

Hamlin led 123 of the 200 laps, including 83 of the final 87. With only four cautions in the race, teams had little extra time to work on adjustments on pit road and Hamlin made short work of the competition during the long green-flag runs.

On Lap 183, NASCAR called a caution for debris on the track, which bunched the field one final time. Nine cars, including those of Hamlin and Kahne, remained on the track while the remainder pitted for new tires.

Johnson, who ended up sixth, had the best finish of any of the drivers who stopped.

“Denny Hamlin deserves all the credit,” said Kurt Busch, who started from the pole and finished third. “That team has been dominant.

“They are showing their strength.”

Jeff Gordon was fourth and Tony Stewart fifth. Kevin Harvick, who was 19th, continues to lead the series standings. He holds a 22-point advantage over Kyle Busch, Hamlin’s teammate at JGR.

Hamlin’s wins, the variety of tracks on which they’ve come and the dominating performances have prompted questions about whether Hamlin and JGR have supplanted Hendrick Motorsports as the top organization in the Cup series.

Hamlin refuses to bite – for now.

“We know that Hendrick is right there in the mix,” he said. “They haven’t gone anywhere.

“They might convince you otherwise, but they haven’t gone anywhere.”