Hamlin rolls to fifth win of season
Denny Hamlin, his No. 11 Toyota becoming a distant spec on the horizon to the rest of the field late in Sunday’s NASCAR race at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., heard the caution call come over the radio and tried not to roll his eyes.
He knows nobody wants to watch a driver lead by 10 seconds, as he was doing at the time. It makes for bad TV.
And even though Hamlin didn’t see any debris on the track when the yellow flag flew, he didn’t exactly panic when his massive advantage was wiped out.
“I understand this is show business,” Hamlin said.
Besides, it turned out to be no big deal for NASCAR’s latest showstopper.
Hamlin easily pulled away from Kasey Kahne on the restart with 14 laps remaining and rolled to his fifth victory of the season, dominating the 400-mile race with the same ease in which he’s dominated the series over the past three months.
“I didn’t like watching him drive away from me, but I wasn’t surprised when he did,” Kahne said. “I thought we had a really good car. … The 11 was just a touch better.”
Kahne highlighted a resurgent day for Ford by finishing second, followed by pole-sitter Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. Four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson was sixth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was seventh.
They all, however, were merely bystanders as Hamlin continued his hot streak that began with a victory in Martinsville in late March.
He led 123 laps and has won five of the past 10 races, and done it in all kinds of ways over all kinds of circuits. Short tracks. Intermediate ovals. Massive speedways. Shootouts. Blowouts. It doesn’t seem to matter. Four months into the season he’s already set a career high for victories and there’s still 21 races to go.
Formula One
Lewis Hamilton won the Canadian Grand Prix for the second time in four years, holding off McLaren teammate Jenson Button at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal to take the season points lead from Mark Webber.
Hamilton, the McLaren driver who raced to his first Formula 1 victory in 2007 on the 2.71-mile track, also won two weeks ago in Turkey in the previous race. The 2008 series champion started from the pole en route to his 13th career victory.
Hamilton took the lead from Red Bull’s Webber on the 50th of 70 laps. Webber then pitted for the second time after giving up considerable time on badly worn tires.
Button, also second in Turkey, finished 2.2 seconds back.
24 Hours of Le Mans
Audi won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the ninth time after all Peugeot cars retired, completing a record 397 laps.
German manufacturer Audi swept the top three spots at the 8.4-mile Circuit de la Sarthe.
Timo Bernhard, teaming up with fellow German driver Mike Rockenfeller and Frenchman Romain Dumas, won ahead of the R15 TDI driven by France’s Benoit Treluyer, which lagged one lap behind.
Italy’s Dindo Capello – in the No. 7 Audi – was third, three laps back.
NHRA
Persistent rain showers forced NHRA officials to delay final eliminations for the NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.
The event was scheduled to resume this morning.