DENNY HAMLIN WINS ADVOCARE 500
SUNDAY AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Marcy Scott (770) 946-3951
HAMPTON, Ga. (Sept. 2, 2012) –
Denny Hamlin held off a charging Jeff Gordon on the final corner to win
the AdvoCare 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Atlanta Motor
Speedway.
“This is one I wanted real
bad,” Hamlin said. “Pit crew. Pit crew won me the race. And that’s what
a championship team is all about, having all those pieces of the puzzle
put together. This year, I think we have
it all.”
With five laps to go,
Hamlin was third and Martin Truex Jr. had a commanding lead on the
field, albeit with waning fuel supplies, when Jamie McMurray brought out
the caution after blowing a tire. Truex, Hamlin and
most of the other leaders pitted, but Hamlin’s crew won him the race
off pit road.
Truex’s crew got him out second and
Jeff Gordon third, but Truex spun the tires on the restart and watched
his hopes of a win in sponsor NAPA’s backyard disintegrate. Instead, he
was left with a great view of the battle
for the win between Hamlin and Gordon.
Gordon moved to the high
line as he came through the final two corners, trying to squeeze around
Hamlin. But Hamlin carried enough speed to keep him in front as the duo
battled through the frontstretch dogleg heading
to the checkered flag.
“I’m just mad at myself right now,”
Gordon said. “I guess I’m just getting soft in my old age; I’m too
nice. You know, 15 years ago I would have just moved him right up the
race track. I don’t know why I didn’t do that.
I thought I could get to his quarter panel and slow him down and stay
there. But I got there and I just carried too much speed into (turn)
three and it pushed up the race track.”
Brad Keselowski turned a consistent night into a solid third-place finish, while Truex was relegated to fourth.
Despite battling a stomach illness
all weekend, Alpharetta’s Joey Logano was the highest finishing Georgia
driver, ending the night 18th. Unadilla native David Ragan finished 28th and Peachtree City’s
Reed Sorenson finished 42nd.
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