Denny Hamlin Avoids The Big One In Texas

The 2010 Samsung Media 500 saw green flag racing for most of the day but the closing laps bent up enough cars for all. Dale Earnhardt Jr. got the ball rolling when the racing heated up causing a multi-car pileup reminiscent of Talladega. When the smoke cleared and the red flag was lifted no one was injured and Denny Hamlin was able to lead the rest of the way to the checkers.

Qualifying

Tony Stewart was fastest in qualifying and picked up his first pole since 2005. Sam Hornish Jr. put his Dodge on the outside of the front row. Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson made up row number two while Kasey Kahne rounded out the top five starters.

Drop Of The Green

Rain pushed the start of the race to Monday afternoon but the 2010 Samsung Mobile 500 finally went green under cool, overcast skies.

Tony Stewart got a good jump at the green and lead the field into turn one with Greg Biffle hot on his bumper. It took Biffle 15 laps but he finally got around Stewart for the lead. Biffle lead Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart to the competition caution.

NASCAR scheduled a competition caution for lap 25 since Saturday's practice session was rained out and the track was green at the start of the race. NASCAR often does this to let the teams monitor tire wear since a "green" track doesn't have any rubber down on it which tends to make the race track more abrasive.

Storylines

Gordon and Johnson battle.. Gordon got under his back bumper made Johnson wiggle. Then Johnson hit his door. Johnson came away with the worst of it as he had a tire rubbing. Johnson nursed it around for a few laps but finally had to make an unscheduled stop when the left front tire went flat.

After Johnson's unscheduled stop there was no one left to compete with Jeff Gordon. He had a massive lead as the laps were ticking away. Fox went to commercial and the caution flew while they were away for David Reutimann's blown motor with 23 laps to go.

This set up a short 18 lap sprint to the checkers with Jeff Burton annd Tony Stewart winning the battle off pit road.

On the restart Dale Earnhardt Jr. tried to make it three wide for the lead as he pushed it into the middle between Burton and Stewart on the restart. Stewart had to check up on the outside and was still looking for room to race when he and Jeff Gordon got together. That caused Carl Edwards to get into Stewart and it was all downhill from there.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. caused that wreck. With less than twenty laps to go you have to race hard for the win, but it was Junior that started that chain of events.

Chasing The Checkers

After the almost 20-minute red flag to clean up the mess JEff Burton annd Denny Hamlin lead them down to the green flag with 12 laps to go. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch were lined up behind them in the second row as they got ready to settle the 2010 Samsung Mobile 500.

The top two stayed side-by-side on lap one until Kyle Busch stuck it in three wide on the bottom in turn one and shuffled Burton back. Denny Hamlin had the top spot with Kyle Busch chasing him down from second.

Hamlin had pulled away but Jimmie Johnson was coming on fast. Johnson got to within two carlengths. If there had been one more lap it might have been different but Denny Hamlin held him off for the win.

Top Ten

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Kyle Busch
4. Kurt Busch
5. Kasey Kahne
6. Mark Martin
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
9. Martin Truex Jr.
10. Greg Biffle

The Points

Once again Jimmie Johnson near the front and once again he extended his point lead. For the first time in 2010 the lead caps the 100 point mark as Matt Kenseth is 108 points back in second. The top five in points remain the same this week.

The top twelve are now:

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Matt Kenseth -108
3. Greg Biffle -128
4. Kevin Harvick -141
5. Jeff Gordon -220
6. Kyle Busch -228
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -235
8. Jeff Burton -243
9. Kurt Busch -249
10. Mark Martin -254
11. Denny Hamlin -275
12. Joey Logano -307