JGR Sweeps Michigan's Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series

Denny Hamlin and his No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota team continued their winning ways with a dominating performance on the two-mile oval at Michigan International Speedway today to claim the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Heluva Good Sour Cream Dips 400.

Hamlin continued his impressive season claiming his second consecutive victory after an equally dominating performance last week in Pocono. It was also his fifth victory in the last 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point races. His effort today continued an amazing run for Joe Gibbs Racing with the team capturing seven of the past 10 point races. In addition JGR's success continued to run across both of NASCAR's top two Series, as the team also captured Saturday night's Nationwide Series win in Kentucky behind the strength of a strong run by Joey Logano. This weekend marked the fourth time this year that JGR has swept both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races in the same weekend. For good measure JGR has also won three of the four NASCAR K&N Pro Series races thus far this season as success has come in every Series the team is entered.

"It's a great accomplishment to win on so many different race tracks for us," Hamlin said. "To be able to unload and know you're going to be competitive for a race win week in and week out gives you a lot of confidence. For the first time really in my career, I feel like we're at this place…It seems like I used to go into every season thinking, 'We ought to get a couple wins, Martinsville, Pocono.' Now it's just show up and, hey, we can win. That to me is just a feeling I don't think we've ever had before. I haven't had it before."

Hamlin started his No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota in the seventh position today and quietly moved his way to the front. Early changes by Mike Ford and the FedEx crew dialed in an already strong Toyota Camry and Hamlin raced to the front for the first time on lap 52. It was a spot he would seldom relinquish the rest of the day. Hamlin led a race high four different times for a total of 123 laps and there was little question on the final run to the checkered flag that he would make yet another timely delivery to victory lane this afternoon.

Joey Logano started the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota in the 12th position and battled some loose conditions early in the race, but crew chief Greg Zipadelli made the right calls to improve the handle on his Camry and with each change Logano would gain ground on the field. He would race his way back into the top 15 and battle inside the top 10 for much of the final third of the race. When it was over Logano would complete yet another strong run to earn his sixth top-ten finish of the season.

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Pretzel Candies Toyota qualified in the 15th position but was forced to start in the back of the field after the team made an engine change following Friday's practice session. Busch battled extremely tight conditions through the early stages of the race but crew chief Dave Rogers and the M&Ms crew continued to make adjustments to improve the handle of the car and Busch ascended all the way into the top ten. As the race entered the later stages the M&Ms Pretzel Camry began to get loose and as Busch battled for position contact with the wall would cause damage to the right front side of his car. A late caution allowed the team to make repairs, but just as Busch was claiming spots in hopes of regaining a top-10 finish he would once again make contact with the wall and with a tire going down was forced to settle for a 20th-place finish.

Kasey Kahne finished second behind Hamlin, while Kurt Busch came home third followed by Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, who rounded out the top five. There were four cautions for a total of 14 laps and 18 lead changes among nine different drivers.

Busch remains second in the point standings just 22 points out of the top spot, while Hamlin remained in third but closed the gap to the leader to just 47 points. Meanwhile Joey Logano remained in the 17th position and is just 107 points out of the top-12.

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