A weekend sweep for Denny Hamlin at Darlington Raceway!

photo credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images

“We had just a really good car,” Hamlin said. “I knew right from the first run of the day we had a very strong race car. At that point it’s just all about conserving your equipment for the end of the race.”

It’s win number 11 for the driver of the #11 in 162 Cup series starts. Hamlin led 104 laps on his way to his third victory of the season, tying him for the most season wins with Jimmie Johnson.

“You can’t put this in words,” Hamlin said. “Just an unbelievable night. Pit road did a phenomenal job getting me back on the track first, and that’s what led to this win. We went back and forth all night and fine-tuned it to perfection at the end. Right there at the end, it was the best it’s been all night. That’s all you can ask for.”

“During the course of my career I felt like I missed out on a lot of wins the first,” Hamlin said. “Probably two to three years of my career, probably 10 of them I should not have lost had I had the mindset that I have right now, what it takes to win. I think the only difference before when we weren’t winning as much to what we’re doing right now is just my mindset and knowing what I need to do to win the race at the end. So, you know, this is the kind of winning pace that I felt like we should have been on right from the get-go of my career, now we’re just hitting that stride. It’s just taken me a while to understand how these races play out, what it takes to win. Now I feel like I have a better understanding of that, I think it’s gonna continue to go on a roll the way it is.”

You have to go back a year to find the last time a driver swept both Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series races in a weekend. Kyle Busch won both races at Richmond International Raceway in May of 2009. You have to go back a lot farther to find the last time a driver swept both races at Darlington Raceway. Mark Martin won both there in September of 1993.

Once again Jeff Gordon had the dominate car. After starting alongside polesitter Jamie McMurray, Gordon jumped out in front from the very first lap and would go on to lead a race-high 110 laps. Gordon finished 4th, but took the blame himself after a pit road miscue set him back in the field for the final restart.

“When we were ready to come in and pit a little early, I just didn’t signal the guys behind me in time and I was going to get run over. My fault,” Gordon said. “I don’t like making mistakes like that.”

Gordon restarted 12th after his final stop of the night with 20 laps remaining.

McMurray scored a runner-up finish.

“We had a good car, but (crew chief) Bono called a really good race,” McMurray said. “Qualifying first, getting to have that pit stall, it made a huge difference. We beat three or four cars out of the pits each time. Most of the times we would come out in the lead and could lead 15 or 20 laps. We had a really good car, good pit stops all night, Bono called a good race. It kind of went all our way. At the end I didn’t have anything for the 11. Couldn’t get our car tight enough. Kind of creeped up on it all night long, could never get the car tight enough to where I could really hustle it. It was always sort of on edge. All in all, it was a great night for us, great weekend for us.”

Kurt Busch finished 3rd.

“So when things go your way, things just seem to click and hopefully you end up with a top five out of it,” Busch said. “We did tonight with our Miller Lite Dodge. Very proud of this run. Didn’t have much for Hamlin and McMurray. I did at certain points, but not at the end. Those guys had it just right. For us to battle all night and finish third at the Lady in Black, we’ll take it.”

Juan Pablo Montoya finished 5th followed by Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman and Brian Vickers completing the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 11 cautions for 56 laps and 20 lead changes among 11 drivers: J. McMurray 0; J. Gordon 1-37; B. Vickers 38-46; R. Gordon 47; J. McMurray 48-85; T. Stewart 86-90; J. Gordon 91-140; D. Hamlin 141-146; K. Harvick 147-148; S. Speed 149-150; D. Hamlin 151-173; J. McMurray 174-205; Kyle Busch 206-228; J. McMurray 229; D. Reutimann 230-232; J. Burton 233-260; J. Gordon 261-283; Kyle Busch 284-289; D. Hamlin 290-340; J. Burton 341-343; D. Hamlin 344-367

Kevin Harvick extended his points lead in the standings to 110 points over 2nd place driver, Jimmie Johnson. Johnson was involved in a wreck with AJ Allmendinger on lap 188 that took him out of the race. Johnson went home 36th.

The Sprint Cup Series head to Dover for Race #12 of the season next Sunday.

Happy Mother’s Day.