BROOKLYN, Mich. – Forget the knee, the weeks of rehab_Denny Hamlin is getting faster and faster.
Hamlin, 29, dashed to victory in his Toyota in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, winning his second straight NASCAR Sprint Cup race and earning his fifth victory of the season.
The Joe Gibbs Racing ace underwent ligament surgery on his left knee in March after injuring it while playing basketball in January. It hasn’t stopped him from driving the best stint of his career over the past 10 or so races and emerging as the driver to beat for the title this year.
Hamlin led 123 of the 200 laps in his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry, including the last 22.
Kasey Kahne, who finished second for Richard Petty Motorsports, didn’t have anything in his No. 9 Budweiser Ford in the closing stages. Nor did Kurt Busch, who drove to third place for Penske Racing.
“If anyone has an ‘A’ out there, the No. 11 (car) has an A-plus,” Busch said afterward .
Watched by a crowd of more than 100,000, the victory was Hamlin’s first at MIS and his 13th career victory in the Cup series.
“I can’t thank the fans enough_it’s the biggest crowd I’ve seen here in a while,” said Hamlin, who won by 1.246 seconds, at an average speed of 156.386 m.p.h. “It was so easy driving cars like this. It makes me look good.”
Hamlin is third in the series standings, 47 points behind leader Kevin Harvick .
“We are going to continue making a run at them,” Hamlin said. “The car was amazingly fast_the product of a lot of hard work by the race shop. It was just a flawless day by the race team.”
For the first time in his career, Hamlin said he is driving at his full potential – “in that place.”
Last year, Hamlin won four races, began the Chase for the Championship in fourth spot and dropped back as far as 11th twice. He is now a definite Cup championship threat in 2010.
“It’s been an unbelievable season,” said Hamlin, who started seventh in the race. “It’s going better than I believed, and now I know how Jimmy (Johnson) felt in the last four years. We just can’t miss.”
Hamlin thinks the team can get better, but he still expects a battle from Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing and Roush Fenway Racing.
On Sunday, he was leading by almost 10 seconds when the caution came out for debris on the track on Lap 183. Hamlin said he didn’t see anything on the track and that NASCAR could have been throwing the yellow to set up an exciting finish. But, it didn’t break his concentration.
“I knew a caution was coming, so I might as well back off and save my tires,” Hamlin said. “I knew the debris caution was coming. It seems to happen every week. The best car won, and that’s all I can ask for.”
Busch, in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, made it a good day for Roger Penske.
“Hats off to my guys, especially the guys working back at the shop, building these great cars,” said Busch, who is fourth in points. “We keep advancing every time we bring our car to the race track. It was a good day here at Michigan. We qualified on the pole, led laps and finished third.”
Chevy’s Jeff Gordon (fourth), Tony Stewart (fifth), Johnson (sixth) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (seventh) recorded a solid day for the bow tie. “We didn’t run as well as we wanted to run, obviously, but we did learn some stuff we can use later on in the year,” said Johnson, who has yet to win a Cup race at MIS.