NASCAR News: Denny Hamlin Takes Race at New Hampshire For Fifth Win This Season

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Following a disappointing finish last week in Chicago, Denny Hamlin tweeted out to his 178,000 followers "This is week 1 of 10. We will win next week."

Hamlin followed up on his promise on Sunday, taking the checkered flag at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the second event of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Hamlin earned his series-leading fifth win of the year.

"You don't want to sound too cocky, but I knew what we were capable of," said Hamlin to the Associated Press. "I know we made a couple of big mistakes, but I said we were fast enough to make it up and we did."

While Hamlin later said that the Twitter message wasn't a guarantee, the point obviously didn't hurt him on Sunday.

"I said it as basically another way to say, 'We'll get them next week,' " Hamlin said before qualifying at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. "I feel like I can go win each and every one of them. Really, it's nothing more than that. ... People were just taking it a little further than that, but I'm racing -- doing the best I can -- and that's all I'm going to do."

The win also marked the 100th career victory for team owner Joe Gibbs, the former Super Bowl champion coach with Washington Redskins.

Hamlin was 32nd in qualifying after his crew put the wrong pressure in his tires and had to maneuver around cars and even some debris make his way up the front lines.

"No matter how fast your car is in practice, it's no guarantee for the race. And so I was a little nervous about that and how the conditions were going to change," Hamlin said. "But Darian obviously gave me a lightning fast car today. For me, my job was relatively easy: Just make sure that I didn't make any enemies on the way to the front."

With a third of the race still to go, Hamlin got a plastic bag stuck into the front part of his car, blocking part of the air intake and threatening his day on the track. Luckily, teammate Kyle Busch slowed down and let Hamlin come up behind him, allowing for the cards to knock the debris away.

"As fast as he was, he could have gone to the back of any car and pulled that off," said Jimmie Johnson. "I kind of thought he would be the guy to beat and he certainly was. We are second-best."

Johnson finished second in the race and is now the Chase point's leader. Jeff Gordon finished third, while Brad Keselowski, who is second-place in the Chase, finished sixth.

With the win, Hamlin pulled into third place in the Chase and greatly improved his standing after finished 16th in Chicago last week. Once he took the lead in the 94th lap, he never looked back. He led the race for 193 total laps.

"He was the class of the field from the time we unloaded," said Clint Bowyer, who finished fourth. "I don't know what they figured out, but they figured it out in a big way."

Back in 2007 Hamlin was leading a race for 150 laps at New Hampshire before an error occurred between the driver and crew chief Darian Grubb about changing tires, costing him the win.

"That meant a lot to his team. And I think the way you handle things like that, being the guy that's wheeling the car, I think is a big deal," Gibbs said, commending Grubb as well. "Those guys are going to remember the way they were treated and I think they would die for them both."

The rest of the Chase standings include Tony Stewart at ten points behind in fourth place, and Kasey Kahne tied with Clint Boyer in fifth place at 15 points back. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 26 points back in seventh place.

The next race will be on Sunday, Sept. 30 at Dover International Speedway in Delaware.

Denny Hamlin on his last race at New Hampshire from July:

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