It was Denny Hamlin by an eyelash….Denny Hamlin won his first race of the season today at New Hampshire International Speedway as he barely held on to take the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 over Jeff Gordon….proving (at least for today) that two tires was the way to go. With the last yellow flag stops coming with 38 laps left, Mike Ford made the call for two tires and that track position paid off for Hamlin as he got his third career victory (he’s tied for 87th on the all-time win list) and win #55 for Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin is the 11th different winner this season, and it was worth $235,775 from the over $5.3M in posted awards. Dale Earnhardt Jr (4th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Atlanta last October. Jimmie Johnson (5th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Darlington in May. Jeff Green (6th) had his best finish since he was 6th at Phoenix in April. Johnny Sauter (6th) had his best finish since he was 9th at Phoenix in April. Kevin Lepage (35th) had his best finish since he was 30th when we were here last September (only five races). STREAKIN….Jeff Gordon has 12 Top-10’s in the last 13 races. Denny Hamlin has 7 Top-10’s in the last 8 races. Martin Truex Jr has 4 Top-5’s in the last 5 races. The Rookie Report: David Ragan (15th) takes this award for the seventh time this season. He was followed by Juan Pablo Montoya (19th), David Reutimann (38th), and Paul Menard (39th). A. J. Allmendinger was a dnq this week. Ragan & Montoya are now tied in ROR awards. This Week’s Elevator…UP: Operator of the Week is Jamie McMurray (+22), followed by Matt Kenseth (+21). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Dave Blaney (-28), Reed Sorenson (-23), and David Reutimann (-21). Jeff Green (33rd to 29th) made the best move forward today, while the absent Mark Martin (15th to 19th) fell the most spots. Among those present, Joe Nemechek fell the most spots (30th to 33rd).(Stock Car Fans)(7-1-2007)
