Denny Hamlin gets a win on his home track as the field is set for the Chase for the Sprint Cup!

A Richmond win has eluded Hamlin a few times in recent visits, but Saturday night was a different story.

Photo Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

Hamlin led a whopping race-high 298 of 400 laps and called the win the “biggest” in his career.

“It’s a good run for our team,” Hamlin said.  “It’s how we have run the last few times here and just haven’t got the win.  You know, today everything just came together.  We had good pit stops and didn’t make any mistakes, so we just kind of paced ourselves at the beginning.  The 24 was really good there at the beginning and had some good racing with him.  Just kind of sizing him up, seeing what he had in case I had to race him towards the end.”

Kurt Busch scored a runner-up finish and claimed his spot in the Chase. “To have our cars run with the strength that we had in the beginning of the year, and then to plateau a little bit, it feels good to finish off strong, especially at the most recent short tracks like Bristol and Richmond,” he said. “So the confidence that it gives the crew and the team to know of all the changes that we have made this of off‑season and to put a car back in the Chase; it’s my second out of four years at Penske to do that, it’s huge.”

Jeff Gordon led 98 laps and looked like the car to beat. He had to check up on one of restarts which sent him slightly back through the field. Gordon was able to rebound for a 3rd place finish.

“We pushed hard,” Gordon said. “Unfortunately, Clint Bowyer pushed a little too hard down in turn one and almost pushed us out but we caught our way back up to third.  I did exactly what I expected us to do as a team.  Our goal was to win, and we went into it as hard as we could to win.  We had great pit stops.  We had the best car I’ve had here in a very long time.  I pushed hard when I felt like I had to on the restarts, the double‑file restarts, and I think we had a second‑place car and we finished third.”  With thoughts on the chase, he quickly added, “I think it propels us very nicely to go into the Chase, actually.”

Polesitter Mark Martin went home with a 4th place finish and the points lead in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here.

There were 10 cautions for 56 laps and 14 lead changes among 4 drivers:
12 among 4 drivers: M. Martin 1-3; D. Hamlin 4-66; J. Gordon 67-107; D. Hamlin 108; M. Waltrip 109; J. Gordon 110-150; D. Hamlin 151-174; J. Gordon 175-182; D. Hamlin 183-188; J. Gordon 189-193; D. Hamlin 194-203; J. Gordon 204-205; D. Hamlin 206-400

Going into Richmond, 11 drivers were battling for 8 open Chase spots.

Matt Kenseth was sitting 12th in the point standings, the cut off. Brian Vickers was 13th, 20 points behind 12th. Kyle Busch was 14th, 37 points behind 12th.

Matt Kenseth battled an ill handling car all night and what he called “the worst pit box ever”. Kenseth finished 25th and dropped to 14th in the standings. A former series champion, Kenseth along with Jimmie Johnson have been the only 2 drivers to have never missed an entry into the Chase since its inception in 2004.

“This is disappointing how we ran here the last three or four times for some reason,” Kenseth said on pit road.  “But really since California, we went to Vegas, and broke in the second lap or first lap and everything has really been downhill since there so I can’t say I’m really surprise that had we didn’t make it.  I’m really disappointed we didn’t make it but we just didn’t perform good enough. Yeah, there’s mistakes here and there and some points left on the table but you can say that every year.  Basically we just didn’t perform good enough.  We didn’t run good enough to be in and the way we ran the last three months, we didn’t deserve to be in there.”

All eyes were on Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch. They raced almost side by side throughout the race’s entirety. Busch finished 5th while Vickers scored a 7th place finish. Add the math up and Busch missed the chase by only a mere 8 points, the closest margin ever in Chase history.

Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

“Well, we did all we can do,” Busch said. “We gave a valiant effort and it was a good night for the M&M’s Toyota to come in fifth place.  That’s what you look for in these deals and unfortunately it wasn’t enough for tonight to get ourselves knocked in the Chase, but it’s not just tonight or it’s not just last week that’s kept us out.  It’s been the past 26 races that unfortunately some days I didn’t do my best, and we didn’t have the best cars or whatever it might have been.  So you can look at a whole different scenario or a whole different slew of things but what it boils down to is we missed. So I feel bad for M&M’s and Interstate Batteries, Combo, Snickers, all of the guys that worked so hard on this team.  With all the pits stops all night if anybody deserved to be in, the team did and they did a great job so unfortunately we will be on the outside looking in.  We’ll be looking to win some races in the rest of the season and hopefully go out with a bang.” Eight points is the closest margin in Chase history.

Every point counted to the checkered flag. 7th is the best Vickers has finished at Richmond.

“I don’t know how many hours the guys spent, just beating their heads against the wall trying to figure out what we need do to make our short track better,” Vickers said.  “Obviously our performance in what we learned in the spring race contributed tremendously to us being better in this race.  It wasn’t like we threw stuff against the wall and it stuck.  We knew what worked and tried to make it better.  The guys did it.  Congratulations to them because if it wasn’t for that, obviously we would not be in the Chase. This is the best car we have ever had here and feel like we can make it a little bit better and there were times this week where we were Top 3 or Top 2 or first‑place capable car.  Really proud of that effort.  I think that last caution came out and maybe we had a shot at the Top 3, but we accomplished our goal tonight.”

The top 12 drivers in the point standings are now locked into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Racing for the 2009 championship will be:

Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya, Greg Biffle and Brian Vickers

Points have been reset to 5000 with each win worth 10 bonus points. Here’s how the drivers have been seeded:

1.   Mark Martin (5040)
2.   Tony Stewart (5030)
3.   Jimmie Johnson (5030)
4.   Denny Hamlin (5020)
5.   Kasey Kahne (5020)
6.   Jeff Gordon  (5010)
7.   Kurt Busch (5010)
8.   Brian Vickers (5010)
9.   Carl Edwards (5000)
10.  Ryan Newman (5000)
11.  Juan Pablo Montoya (5000)
12.  Greg Biffle (5000)

For more details, click here.

Photos by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR