Hamlin wins at Martinsville; Gordon not happy with NASCAR, Kenseth

Some were calling Monday's rain-delayed race at Martinsville Speedway the best race of this young season. It's hard to argue. For a sport wanting to reach out to its core fan group, a good short-track race is certainly a good start.

 

And there's certainly a lot to talk about heading into an off weekend. Denny Hamlin scored a dramatic win looking almost like a bull in a china shop with his charge from fourth to first in the final two-lap shootout. Jeff Gordon was upset that there was even a shootout, saying NASCAR was too quick to call for a caution. Then Gordon was angry at Matt Kenseth and admitted he hit Kenseth to make sure Kenseth wouldn't win the race after Kenseth him him after the restart. Listening to the scanner throughout the race, you heard drivers threatening to take others out but didn't, meaning paybacks will be coming down the road.

 

Lots to discuss. First we'll go to the winner and then get into the Gordon-NASCAR-Kenseth debate.

 

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HIS HOUSE?

 

Has Jimmie Johnson passed the keys to Martinsville to Denny Hamlin _ or has Hamlin taken the keys from Johnson at Martinsville? This was Hamlin's second win in a row at Martinsville. Johnson has won 5 of the last 8 at Martinsville with Hamlin winning the other three.

 

Let's be honest here, this was a key race for Hamlin, a preseason favorite to challenge Johnson for the title. The start of the season has not been what he expected. Tire problems have hurt him in three races and he entered Martinsville 19th in the points. Plus Hamlin has reconstructive knee surgery on Wednesday in Charlotte. While the series is off this weekend for Easter, he'll be back in a car for Phoenix and how will his knee respond?

 

The team has Casey Mears as his relief driver for the next few races. Still, if Hamlin has to get out of the car, there's a question of what kind of performace the car will have. Let's be honest again, a relief driver is that a relief driver. He's not the No. 1 driver, so there's a question of how many points this team could score in future races.

 

That's why it was important for Hamlin to win or score at least a top-five heading into this uncertainity. And it's why when he gave up the lead to come down pit road with less than 10 laps left, it looked so devastating as only one other car followed him. Hamlin restarted 9th with four laps left until the scheduled finish when the green waved.

 

Hamlin, combined with luck, turned in a run that fans at this track might be talking about for some time. And that he climbed through the field without wrecking people also was impressive (and maybe a bit lucky on his part). Still with the help of one last caution, Hamlin rallied for a win that he needed.

 

"I feel like we haven't even got a chance to show what we have yet through the course of this year,'' Hamlin said after his 9th career Cup win. "For whatever reason, it just takes a little while for me and (crew chief) Mike (Ford) to get back  in rhythm and figure out what we need on each race day. Think it's starting to come through again.''

 

We'll see what happens as Hamlin recovers from knee surgery.

 

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JEFF GORDON IS TAKING ON ALL COMERS

 

A third-place finish isn't bad but it wasn't good enough for Jeff Gordon on Monday. Gordon left Martinsville frustrated after it looked like he was about to win for the eighth time at this track _ but first since 2005.

 

Gordon was headed for the white flag when Kyle Busch's spin into the wall brought out the caution just before Gordon started the last lap. NASCAR's rule is that if the leader has started the final lap, there can be no attempt at a green-white-checkered finish. If the leader hasn't started that final lap, then you can have a GWC restart.

 

With his first victory in nearly a year in front of him, Gordon, understandbly did not like NASCAR's call to throw the caution.

 

"It was pretty obvious to me NASCAR wanted to do a green-white-checkered finish. There were cars blowing tires, hitting the wall, they weren't throwing the caution. One spins out and they threw the caution in the blink of an eye. I think it was pretty obvious what they wanted.''

 

Of course. NASCAR's decision on cautions at the end are certainly interesting. Remember that 2007 Daytona finish when series officials allowed the leaders to race to the finish as cars wrecked behind them? It used to be that NASCAR waited longer to throw a caution but now with up to three attempts at a GWC, NASCAR seems willing to throw a caution sooner at the end. One could argue Monday that NASCAR did not throw cautions when cars limped around the track with blown tires (Gordon nearly ran into one at one time) while calling one with Kyle Busch's car parked backward in turns 3-4. Certainly a car stopped is an issue where laps are being completed in 20 seconds, although one wonders if Busch would have had time to turn it around once the field cleared. We'll never know.

 

Hey, right or wrong, NASCAR's call set up a dramatic finish and gave fans something to debate for the next couple of weeks.

 

On the final restart, Matt Kensth got into Gordon in turns 1-2 and then Gordon returned the favor in turns 3-4, sending Kenseth up into the wall and Hamlin shooting by for the lead and the win.

 

Here's what Gordon and Kenseth said about their incidents:

 

JEFF GORDON: "The way (Kenseth) raced me today, I didn't think was the way I would have raced him. But we've had our ups and our downs. But I feel like we've been past that. I certainly didn't feel like we had any issues.

 

"If somebody hits me, I'm going to hit them. I'm glad I did what I did on the back straightaway. If a give gives you a cheap shot likethat, he doesn't deserve to win the race in my opinion.  ... I made sure he didn't win the race down the straightaway.''

 

I asked Gordon what's the differnece between a cheap shot and hard short-track racing. Here's what Gordon said: "A cheap shot to me is when you don't really have a shot at it, you just go and rub into the back of a guy. That's what I think is a cheap shot.''

 

As for Matt Kenseth, here's what he said about the incidents:

 

KENSETH: "I guess it looked like it was my fault. I did go in there, and I did get into Jeff a little bit, really not that hard, and I got under him and everything was fine and he just took a left as hard as he could take one and ran me down all the way into the marbles. I've got all the marbles on my rear tires, and I slowed up to try to get in the corner real slow, and I kind of go hit from behind and I got hit in the side and started wheel-hopping.

 

"I couldn't hang onto it when I got to (turn) three. It's nothing Jeff wouldn't have done or hasn't done to me, except he's wrecked me all the way out, so it was just an aggressive race at the end.

 

"We were going to be side by side going into (turns) three and four and the outside lane has actually been an advantage anyway, so it wasn't going to be that big of a deal, but instead, he decided to run me down as low as he could because he knew I'd wreck when I got to the corner. That's the way it turned out. It was a dumb move on my part.

 

"I should have just finished third and collected some points and got one of our best finishes at Martinsville, but I figured I'd go for the win, which I guess in hindsight, was probably a mistake.''

 

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SHORT TAKES

 

# Jeff Burton had one of the top cars but a tire problem cost him a chance at a win. Burton and Hamlin held the lead for all but 15 of the last 311 laps. It was some pretty good racing between the two late as Burton pressured Hamlin repeatedly until a cut tire put Burton into the wall. He finished 20th.

 

# A Goodyear spokesman told me the teams of Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Robby Gordon, Regan Smith, Mark Martin, David Reutimann and Joe Nemechek each had tire problems with melting beads due to excessive brake heat.

 

# Jimmie Johnson was a non-factor Monday. He finished 9th and didn't lead a lap at Martinsville for the first time since Oct. 2005. His prize? He's now leading the points. He climbed into the points lead with Kevin Harvick finishing 35th. Johnson leads Greg Biffle by 14 points with Matt Kenseth 16 points behind. Said Johnson of his day: "We were trying some stuff through the company, especially on the 48 car today. We thought we would get it sorted out in practice and just came up a little short. Didn't get enough time with our new ideas. Good race experience with it today and we know what we were trying here today will help us at other tracks down the road.''

 

# Ryan Newman scored a much-needed fourth-place finish Monday. He moved up to 22nd in the points with his best finish of the season. Remember, he was well back last year and had to climb his way to the top 12. This was a good step in the right direction for he and his team. He's moved up in the points each of the past four races.

 

# Martin Truex Jr. scored a season-high fifth. Truex on the wild restart finish. "Usually we're at the wrong end of the deal at the end,'' he said. So true, in my story advancing the race, I wrote about the Green-White-Checkered and how its changed things in the sport and who has fared the best and worst in recent races. In the last five GWC (before Monday), Truex had lost a total of 48 spots in those shootouts. He needed this Monday.

 

# Brian Vickers scored a season-high sixth-place finish.

 

# Robby Gordon finished 34th, marking the 10th consecutive race at Martinsville he's finished 30th or worse.

 

# Biggest mover in the points was Kyle Busch, who fell 6 spots to 16th after his late wreck (he finished 22nd).

 

# Biggest mover up the points: Jeff Gordon (from 11th to 7th in points), Joey Logano (17th to 13th) and Ryan Newman (26th to 22nd).

 

# 24 lead changes Monday. More than either Martinsville race last year.

 

# Sam Hornish finished 13th despite reports he was ill before the race.

 

# Greg Biffle's 10th-place finish was his second top-10 in 15 starts at Martinsville.

 

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OK, so what do you think? What will happen to Hamlin after his surgery? Whose side you on in Gordon-NASCAR or Gordon-Kenseth? Are you worried Johnson is leading the points? What else is on your mind?

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