Hamlin makes prediction come true

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- If Denny Hamlin was as prophetic about who would win the Chase for the Sprint Cup as he has been about his race wins, NASCAR could call an early end to the season.

Twice this season -- before his wins at Pocono and Richmond -- Hamlin predicted in media interviews that he would win those races.

After a second consecutive terrible finish took him out of the championship hunt last weekend, Hamlin predicted he would still win another race this season.

Mission accomplished.

Hamlin used a fast car and some crafty pit strategy to grab the lead late in Sunday's Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway, and he had to fight off series leader Jimmie Johnson on four subsequent restarts to earn his third win of the season.

"We don't have any weak spots any more in our race team -- that's how I figured I could say that I knew we were going to win another race regardless," said Hamlin, who won for the second time at Martinsville.

"When you put yourself in position like we have over the last few weeks, you're going to win races."

What he can't do, trailing Johnson by 352 points with four races left, is win the championship. However, Hamlin's three wins are the most in his nearly four-year Cup career, and he has led more laps (1,296) with four races left than he has in any of his previous seasons.

And Hamlin is the only driver other than Johnson to win at Martinsville since the fall 2006 race. Johnson has won five of the past seven.

Still, Hamlin's win Sunday did little to slow Johnson's march to his fourth consecutive championship.

Johnson gained 28 points on second-place Mark Martin (who finished eighth) and leads by 118 heading into Sunday's Amp Energy 500 at Talladega, Ala.

Hamlin also led the most laps in the spring race at Martinsville but was nudged out of the way by Johnson late in the race and denied the win. Johnson got close again Sunday, but this time Hamlin stood his ground.

Restarting "single file [in the spring] let him be closer to me coming off the first corner, where the double-file [used since June], believe it or not, let me stretch it out a little bit," Hamlin said.

Johnson said he had one chance to put a bumper to Hamlin, but he actually hit the curb on that try.

"That was my one chance," he said. "After that I could match his laps, but he would just start inching away from me, and had the best car there at the end.

"I wasn't going to come in with the second-place car and take a cheap shot and pass him that way. If I felt like I had the car to win the race, I would have been up there leaning on him some."

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