2010 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400: Denny Hamlin Holds Off Kasey Kahne

Staged in Brooklyn, Michigan, on June 13, 2010, the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 was the fifteenth race of that Sprint Cup season. Denny Hamlin won for Joe Gibbs Racing, taking his fifth victory of the year and his first at the track. Kasey Kahne was the runner-up, and Kurt Busch, who had started on pole, came home third.

What was the Heluva Good race at Michigan?

The race was run over 200 laps. Caution flags came out four times, and the lead changed hands nineteen times between nine drivers. Hamlin led a race-high 123 laps and won by 1.246 seconds. Kevin Harvick, who entered the race at the top of the standings, left with the points lead intact.

The start came at 1 p.m. EDT, with TNT carrying it live. Fr. Geoff Rose gave the invocation, and the Army Chorus performed the national anthem before Adam Sandler and Kevin James gave the start command in a playful, drawn-out style that many fans still talk about.

Denny Hamlin led a race-high 123 laps and held off Kasey Kahne on a day of pit road trouble and late restarts.

How did practice and qualifying set up the race?

Kurt Busch won the pole at 37.898 seconds, his second of 2010. Jamie McMurray started alongside him on the front row, with Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne sharing the second row. Jeff Burton qualified fifth at 38.00 seconds.

Forty-six cars entered qualifying, and the fastest forty-three made the race. Dave Blaney, Michael Waltrip and Johnny Sauter failed to qualify. Three drivers were sent to the back after changes made following the first practice session. Kyle Busch needed an engine change, while Bowyer switched cars and Conway had his transmission replaced.

Practice had been mixed. Juan Pablo Montoya was fastest in the first session, and Paul Menard was quickest in the morning session at 38.824 seconds. Jimmie Johnson took the final practice honours before the race.

How did the race start and unfold early?

Kurt Busch made a good start and kept the lead, but McMurray passed him at the end of the first lap and then Busch took the lead back. Kahne and Johnson moved past McMurray in the first few laps, which pushed him back in the order.

Marcos Ambrose spun on lap 18 and brought the first caution. Most of the field pitted, and when the green flag waved on lap 22 Tony Stewart led Kurt Busch, Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kahne. The second caution came out for debris in Turn Two, and Robby Gordon and David Gilliland stayed out to lead before pitting on the next lap.

Hamlin passed Kurt Busch on lap 52 after a strong restart. At the 67-lap mark, Hamlin's advantage over Kurt Busch was 2.4 seconds, with Busch in second place. Green-flag pit stops began on lap 87, and Hamlin briefly lost the lead when he had trouble leaving his stall on lap 92.

What happened in the middle and closing stages?

On lap 99 Scott Speed, after making contact with his teammate Casey Mears, spun and brought out the third caution. On lap 101 Mears collided with Ragan on pit road, and Mears went to the garage the following lap. Kahne then took over the lead after the pit cycle.

Hamlin passed Kurt Busch in Turn Three on lap 113 to take the lead, and Kahne moved into second on lap 119. On lap 126 Hamlin was 2.8 seconds ahead of Kahne, and the gap grew as the race went on. Newman reported that his car was not running correctly after hitting a piece of aluminium.

By lap 154 Hamlin led Kahne by seven seconds. Kahne briefly took over on lap 177 and gave the lead back on lap 178 after his own pit stop. Hamlin's advantage had grown to nine seconds by lap 179, and debris on the back straightaway brought out the fourth caution on lap 181.

The field stayed off pit road for the restart, and Hamlin made a clean start to keep his lead. Jimmie Johnson, who had restarted twelfth, moved up to sixth by lap 188. Near the finish the gap between Hamlin and Kahne kept growing, and Hamlin took the flag ahead of him.

Why did Hamlin win this race?

Hamlin led more laps than any other driver, 123 in all, and he held the lead through the late stops when it counted. The win also lifted him to third in the standings, twenty-five points behind Kyle Busch in second.

Hamlin's own assessment was that the car handled well, and the crew had worked hard to keep it there. He won by 1.246 seconds over a 200-lap race that had been decided by restarts and pit road moves.

Hamlin said the car was easy to drive, and he added that the team never stopped working whether the lead was nine-tenths of a second or nine seconds. He also described a fuel problem at a pit stop, which he feared was a repeat of an earlier issue at Pocono, but his crew chief had given him no alarm about fuel.

How did Kurt Busch finish after starting from pole?

Kurt Busch converted his pole into a third-place finish, which kept him in the top three for the afternoon. Jeff Gordon came home fourth and Tony Stewart fifth, so the front of the field was filled by drivers who had qualified well.

Busch's pole was his second of 2010, and he had raced with the leaders through most of the middle stint. He had been among the front runners when the lead changed several times, and his third place was a solid return for a team that had led the field in qualifying.

How did the race affect the points standings?

Kevin Harvick remained at the top of the drivers' championship with 2,169 points after the race. Kyle Busch was second with 2,147 points, and Hamlin was third, which made the top three the same three names that had led before the race. Kenseth sat fifth on 2,019 points.

Before the race, Harvick had led with 2,063 points, Kyle Busch was on 2,044 and Hamlin on 1,927. Chevrolet had led the manufacturers' title with 100 points, and Dodge had 61.

Chevrolet still led the manufacturers' table on 103 points, while Toyota had 97 and Dodge 65. Hamlin's crew chief said his driver had come back from a knee injury and was not yet at full strength.

What did Kahne say about the finish?

Kahne said he had stayed with Hamlin for about three laps in the leader's dirty air, and then Hamlin slowly pulled away. He called it a huge improvement for his team and said he was pretty happy with the result.

Those remarks reflected how close the race had been for the second-place car. Hamlin's final margin was 1.246 seconds, and Kahne was the only driver close enough to press him for much of the closing stint.

Race facts at a glance