Denny Gets JGR’s 100th Win in New Hampshire
Team Interstate race weekend wrap-up for Sept. 22-23, 2012:
- The No. 11 FedEx team celebrates after Denny Hamlin won Sunday in New Hampshire. Copyright 2012 Autostock Images.
Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota Camry, led Team Interstate by winning the Sylvania 300 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.
“I knew, once we got to about Lap 50 and started working our way to the sixth or seventh position — I knew that we had the winning car,” Hamlin said.
It was Hamlin’s 22nd career Sprint Cup victory, his series-high fifth of the season and his second victory at New Hampshire. The win also was the 100th Sprint Cup victory for Joe Gibbs Racing in 21 seasons in NASCAR‘s top series.
Hamlin’s Team Interstate companions, Joey Logano in the No. 20 Toyota Camry and Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Toyota Camry, finished eighth and 28th, respectively. Busch was running second behind Hamlin on Lap 164 when his engine began to go sour. Busch nursed his engine through the remainder of the race on seven cylinders, finishing two laps down to the leaders.
Kyle Busch spent the first part of the race at or near the front until his engine lost a cylinder. Copyright 2012 Autostock Images.
“That pretty much sums up our season,” Busch said. “We had another great M&M’s Camry, just up there in second behind Denny and working on trying to make our racecar better. Then suddenly we were way down on power, and we must have lost a cylinder. All we could do is ride around and try to make it to the end of the race.”
Crew Chief Dave Rogers said the team doesn’t know what caused the engine problem, but they knew if they tried to fix it, Busch would have finished even further back.
“I’m really proud of this M&M’s Toyota Camry race team,” Rogers said. “We’ve been bouncing back from adversity all year long.
Denny's win was his fifth of the season and the 100th for Joe Gibbs Racing. Copyright 2012 Autostock Images
The victory was also the 100th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win for JGR. Tony Stewart is responsible for 33 of those wins, with Hamlin’s 22, Bobby Labonte’s 21, Busch’s 20, Dale Jarrett’s two and Logano’s two. JGR is only the sixth team in Cup history to reach 100 victories. NASCAR.com has this great breakdown of JGR’s milestones.
- Coach Joe Gibbs launched his NASCAR team with Interstate Batteries as his founding sponsor in the 1992 season. Copyright 2012 Autostock Images
Hamlin is representing JGR in this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup and entered the second race of the 10-race Chase fourth in the standings. He gained one spot to third in points with 2,089 points, just seven points behind new Chase leader Jimmie Johnson.
Busch maintained 13th in the standings with 831 points, 24 ahead of 14th-place Ryan Newman. Logano held his 18th position with 751 points, 80 points behind Busch in 13th. Since they are not Chase participants, Busch and Logano can finish no higher than 13th.
NHRA Pro Stock: Mechanical Failure Bounces Edwards Early
Team Interstate’s Mike Edwards was hoping for a solid performance this weekend at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Interstate Batteries’ home drag strip. He qualified his Penhall/K&N/Interstate Batteries Pontiac GXP in the eighth position and knew he’d have his work cut out for him if he wanted to contend for the win.
Unfortunately, a severe tire shake in the first elimination round ended Edwards’ run early.
After two rounds in the six-race Countdown to the Championship, Edwards sits sixth in points.
|
Position |
Driver |
Points |
|
1 |
Allen Johnson |
2,339 |
|
2 |
Jason Line |
2,246 |
|
3 |
Vincent Nobile |
2,217 |
|
4 |
Erica Enders |
2,195 |
|
5 |
Greg Anderson |
2,161 |
|
6 |
Mike Edwards |
2,127 |
|
7 |
Ron Krisher |
2,097 |
|
8 |
Larry Morgan |
2,093 |
|
9 |
V Gaines |
2,085 |
|
10 |
Jeg Coughlin Jr |
2,083 |
Next week: NASCAR stays on the East Coast with a visit to Dover International Speedway, where Busch will once again carry the Interstate Batteries colors. NHRA drag racing travels to Gateway Motor Sports Park in St. Louis.
Related articles
- Hamlin wins at New Hampshire! (joegibbsracing.com)
- JGR Signs Matt Kenseth (joegibbsracing.com)
- Hamlin Finishes 16th in First Race of the Chase (blogbattery.com)
James Pecht writes about franchising, battery technology, tips, racing and company culture for Interstate Batteries.
Posted in Racing
Tags: Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Mike Edwards, NASCAR, NHRA, racing
