AVONDALE, Ariz. — Denny Hamlin spent nearly two months of the offseason in the Scottsdale area, hoping to get away from racing for a while, reinvigorate himself for the 2012 season.
It seemed to do wonders, leading to a win at a place where he had one of the biggest disappointments of his career.
Hamlin pulled away when NASCAR’s best closer ran out of gas and then had to sweat out his own fuel mileage before completing a confidence boosting win at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday.
“It’s a little bit of satisfaction there, for sure,” Hamlin said. “ It’s a bittersweet track.”
Hamlin started 13th at PIR and briefly led a couple of times before beating Kevin Harvick off the line after a caution with 59 laps left. Harvick, NASCAR’s best finisher, put a scare into him toward the end, but ran out of gas on the final lap.
Hamlin was concerned about gas as well, but had just enough for a celebratory burnout after his 18th career win and his first lead in the points since dejectedly leaving Phoenix in 2010.
“ When I come back here ( and win), it puts 2011 to rest,” Hamlin said. “ It’s a year I’d soon like to forget and now we can focus on winning a championship.”
Hamlin had to hold off NASCAR’s version of a closer to get it.
Harvick, who won three races at the finish last season, had Hamlin lined up for another last-second victory.
But as he closed in on the No. 11’s bumper, Harvick’s car turned off. His team had been concerned about having enough fuel to get to the end and just missed it, the No. 29 coasting over the line just ahead of Greg Biffle for second.
Johnson did the best he could after his right rear wheel started shaking midway through the race.
The five-time Sprint Cup champion led early in the race, but had to pit twice during a caution because of a vibration and returned to the track in 25th.
Johnson clawed his way back toward the front to finish fourth, a nice result after he was docked 25 points for his car failing inspection the first day of Speedweeks and wrecked two laps into the Daytona 500.
Kasey Kahne slid into the wall early and Paul Menard did the same after A.J. Allmendinger got loose in front of him near the midpoint of the race. Ryan Newman, in a backup car because of a practice session crash, was knocked from sixth when Carl Edwards got loose with about 60 laps left and Brad Keselowski dropped back when he got a little squirrely a few laps later.
“It was definitely slick for sure,” said Kyle Busch, who finished sixth.
Not for Hamlin, allowing him to get a grip on a memory he wanted to erase.
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