Hamlin rolling into race with momentum

Denny Hamlin, a first-time winner in Richmond, has 10 top-10 finishes in his last 12 starts.

NASCAR officials ushered Chevy Rock & Roll 400 winner Denny Hamlin out of the postrace news conference so fast Saturday night that they had to bring him back for an encore.

“Thanks for kicking me out earlier,“ he said with a laugh, after other drivers involved in the Chase for the Sprint Cup were paraded into the media center.

His 11 competitors in the Chase will be fortunate to dismiss him as quickly.

Hamlin starts the 10-race Chase this week at New Hampshire fourth in points (5,020), behind Mark Martin (5,040) Tony Stewart (5,030) and Jimmie Johnson (5,030).

Kasey Kahne is fifth (5,020). Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers each have 5,010 points. Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya and Greg Biffle are at 5,000.

Hamlin, though, goes in with more momentum than anybody. In addition to a breakthrough win at hometown Richmond International Raceway on Saturday, he has posted 10 top-10 finishes in his past 12 races. He has two wins, with seven top-five finishes.

No one else can claim that kind of consistency during that stretch.

“I don’t think you can count anybody out,“ Stewart said. “I mean, there are obviously drivers that are bigger favorites than others, but the reality is there are 12 great teams that made the Chase and there are reasons they all got here.

“But for sure, somebody that’s starting the Chase off of a win has got a lot of momentum on their side. You look at him, he’s on Cloud Nine. He just won his first race at his home track leading into the Chase. So I don’t know how you could have more momentum on your side than what he’s got right now.“

Hamlin said finally winning here felt like “a Daytona 500 win to anyone else.“

“I mentioned before that I wanted to win this race before I won a 500, but now, of course, I know how special that race is to everyone,“ he said. “But this one in particular, especially after all the heartbreak, it makes it more gratifying to win now. It’s by far the biggest win of my career and hopefully it goes a long way for this race team over the next 10 weeks.“

In the 2008 spring race at RIR, Hamlin led 381 of the first 382 laps before blowing a tire and finishing 24th. In the spring race this year, he led 148 laps before a dropped lug nut during a pit stop led to a 14th-place finish.

He led 298 laps Saturday, including the final 195. Still, with that history lurking in the background and the fact he was experiencing some brake problems, Hamlin admitted he was a little nervous when a caution came out on Lap 382 and he had to visit his pit.

“I knew their eyeballs were popping out of their head to make sure they didn’t make a mistake,“ he said, “and they just did what they had to do.“

Hamlin said earlier in the season that he felt his FedEx Toyota cars were 5 to 10 percent off “in just about every area.“ Now it’s down to about 3 to 5 percent as he goes into the Chase.

“[Richmond] is another thing checked off the list,“ he said. “Now, we can solely focus on winning a championship. Had we not won this race, I probably wouldn’t have been as confident going into the Chase. Even a second-place finish just doesn’t give you what we got by winning this race.“