Denny Hamlin

Denny Hamlin wasn't 50 feet past the checkered flag when the twitter Negative Nellies started their chirping. Like a third grader on the playground cries no take backs, they were all over Hamlin's calling or not calling his shot at New Hampshire. A little background here. After running out of gas and finishing a disappointing 16th last week, Hamlin tweeted "This is 1 week of 10. We will win next week. " Friday in at his press conference at New Hampshire he backed of the statement, a little, but not completley telling the media, "I said it as basically another way to say, 'We'll get them next week,'" Hamlin said.

At least that's how it seemed this weekend. I have to be honest, I am not a big road course fan. They are interesting to watch for a while, but honestly there is just enough speed, its too hard to pass and they way pit strategy works out, it's too hard to figure out who really has a good car when you are watching on tv. I usually lose interest pretty quickly. Um, not on Sunday. By they time Tony Stewart's car ended up propped on a tire barrier n turn 11, I was already hooked. But Brian Vickers vs Smoke was just one of many feuds on the day. Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski where both unhappy with Juan Pablo Montoya, and Denny Hamlin described his day on twitter as being "dingered" (a reference to driver AJ Almendinger)

Denny Hamlin passed Kevin Harvick for the lead with 29 laps to go Sunday and won his third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway. Hamlin became the first driver since Jimmie Johnson to sweep both races on the smallest track in NASCAR's premier series, and both he and Harvick closed the gap on Johnson in the points race with four races remaining. Hamlin trails by just six points, Harvick by 62. Harvick finished third after Mark Martin passed him in the closing laps, but Harvick still had his best showing in 19 career starts at the track.

Carl Edwards has won the pole for Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway with a track-record lap of 136.389 miles per hour to earn the top starting spot for Roush-Fenway Racing. Denny Hamlin was the top qualifier of the three championship contenders. He qualified 17th Four-time Phoenix winner Jimmie Johnson qualified 21st and Kevin Harvick qualified 29th. Hamlin has a 33-point lead over Johnson and a 59-point edge over Harvick entering this next-to-last race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

Kevin Harvick passed Denny Hamlin with 11 laps to go, then held on to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup series race at Michigan International Speedway. Harvick's No. 29 team gambled by staying on the track instead of making a pit stop during a late caution. It paid off with a momentum-building victory Sunday for the series points leader. This is Harvick's third win of the season and his first this year on a nonrestrictor plate track. Hamlin finished second, followed by Roush Fenway Racing drivers Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth.

Clint Bowyer has stormed out of the gate in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship by snapping an 88-race drought and winning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Bowyer had the most dominant car Sunday but lost the lead to Tony Stewart on a restart during a flurry of cautions late in the race. Bowyer couldn't catch the two-time champion with speed, but pounced when Stewart ran out of gas with a lap to go. Bowyer was nursing his own fuel tank to the finish line, and barely held off Denny Hamlin for the victory.

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) - Clint Bowyer edged Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick to win at Talladega Superspeedway. The race Sunday ended under caution because of a multicar accident way behind the leaders. Bowyer and Harvick kept racing until the yellow flag was displayed, and neither had any idea who won. NASCAR needed several minutes to review the finish as the teammates anxiously waited for a decision. Bowyer did burnouts in anticipation of the call, then reached his hand out his window to congratulate his parked teammate.

He might be nearly 400 points off of the Chase lead, but Clint Bowyer is not taking the rest of the chase lying down. The Emporia native won the Camping World Truck series race at Phoenix on Friday. This is his second win in the truck racing series, topping Kyle Busch and John Sauter. This was the first time he had raced in this series in three years and he borrowed Kevin Harvick's #2 truck in the race. Tod Bodine finished in 12th place but he wrapped up his second series title with the finish.

Brad Keselowski took the lead when Elliott Sadler was penalized for jumping a late restart, then held on to win Saturday in a controversial finish to the first NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sadler passed Keselowski on a restart with 18 laps to go, but officials ruled that Sadler went too early and black-flagged him. Sadler stayed on the track for several laps, apparently hoping officials would reconsider the penalty, before finally coming in with 12 laps to go and giving up the lead to Keselowski.