Hamlin couldn't go the extra miles

LOUDON, N.H. -- Denny Hamlin figured he had enough fuel to make to a green-white-checkered finish. But he knew he wouldn't be able to go any longer if yesterday's Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway went beyond its scheduled distance.

As it turned out, the race went eight extra laps, which proved eight too many for the rookie driver of the No. 11 Chevrolet fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin had what appeared to be a runner-up finish to winner Kyle Busch all but sewn up when his car sputtered as it came chugging out of the final turn and ran out of gas some 100 yards later, barely coasting across the finish line for sixth place.

Hamlin's day was done in by a backstretch wreck involving Michael Waltrip and Robby Gordon that left Waltrip's car crippled in the middle of the track as the field was set to take the green on Lap 303. Waltrip's simmering feud with Gordon, which spilled over from a confrontation in last September's race, left Hamlin fuming.

``The guys wrecked under caution and that really killed us," said Hamlin, who wound up being credited as the Rookie of the Race for the 10th time in 18 races. ``It's pretty unfortunate. It was looking like I had a shot at the win because Kyle's car didn't come in very good, but I sputtered right there at the green-white-checkered [on Lap 306]. I couldn't really do anything.

``It's pretty unfortunate, but, still, a sixth-place run, we were able to get it to the [finish] line and I'm pretty happy about."

Asked how he intended to rebound from yesterday's disappointment, Hamlin looked ahead to the track where he recorded his first career Nextel Cup victory in June, and replied, ``The best way to rebound is to go to a track that we kicked some butt at. We plan on doing the same thing this week."

Next week's Cup stop at Pocono Raceway for the Pennsylvania 500.

On Lap 135, Dale Earnhardt Jr. saw a puff of smoke in his rearview mirror. That cloud told him all he needed to know: The motor aboard his No. 8 Chevrolet had given way, saddling Earnhardt with a 43d-place finish. For Earnhardt, who is winless at NHIS, it was his second 43d-place in 14 races here.

After his crew pushed the lifeless Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevy back to the garage, Earnhardt pulled himself out of the car. He wrapped a wet towel around his neck and sat on the floor, leaning against his team's tool box and took a drink of water. When Earnhardt got up, he was limping heavily, favoring his right foot.

``If you're out there running, it's fine," Earnhardt, who wasn't concerned with his foot, said about the heat. ``But if you have to cruise right there, you don't really realize how hot you are and how tired you are. I didn't get any warning from the motor. It just snapped. I don't understand. That's only the second or third motor I've ever blown with DEI."

Earnhardt dropped four spots to seventh in the points chase, 361 behind leader Jimmie Johnson. Johnson padded the cushion between himself and Matt Kenseth, who now trails by 68 points.

At the pre-race drivers meeting, Mark Martin was recognized for making his 600th consecutive career start, the longest current stretch dating back to the 1988 Daytona 500. Amazingly, all of his starts have been for one car owner: Jack Roush.

``The thing you've got to remember is that I've been lucky enough to, in a worse-case scenario, drive hurt and never had a sick day," Martin said before the race. ``That's a long time. Also, you've got to remember, I've driven awfully good cars. Otherwise that streak wouldn't be there."

One of eight drivers entered in yesterday's race who participated in NHIS's inaugural Cup race, the Slick 50 300, in July 1993, Martin yesterday finished fourth, marking his first top five in his last 12 starts at NHIS.

``We had a really good-handling car, it wasn't the fastest out there but it was good enough that we could skip tires," Martin said. ``Sometimes you can't have it all, but if you can just have the handling _ we took gas only the last two times in, you know, so we were disadvantaged on tires, but in the end that didn't hurt because the car would work on them, we were able to hold our track position, good strategy and good run."

Jeff Burton, who started on the front row and led 37 laps, put his No. 31 team in a hole when he was nabbed for speeding on pit road during an early green-flag cycle. Burton had to serve a pass-through penalty, forced to drive through the pits again at 50 miles per hour, putting him two laps down. Burton made up the laps later in the race and finished seventh. ``I just feel really dumb for getting caught speeding down pit road again," said Burton, who climbed one spot into third in the standings. ``I don't know what that's all about. It's my fault. This is the second time this year I've done it." . . . Rookie David Stremme finished 11th, his best career result. Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Reed Sorenson also enjoyed a solid race, leading 31 laps, although he ran out of gas. ``Reed had a good car too and had some bad luck, but he ran up front and led some laps," Stremme said. ``Things are looking up." . . . Kurt Busch slammed his No. 2 Dodge into the wall late in the race, resulting in a 38th-place finish, which snapped a streak of five straight top-10 results . . . While Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, and Mark Martin gave Roush Racing a 2-3-4 sweep, teammate Jamie McMurray continued to struggle, finishing 33d . . . The poor season continued for Robert Yates Racing as Elliott Sadler (25th) and Dale Jarrett (31st) failed to advance in the points chase. Sadler was running in the top five before the No. 38 Ford ran out of gas in the closing laps. ``This pretty much puts in a nutshell how our season has been," said Sadler. ``We just can't catch the right breaks or catch the right cautions. [Crew chief Tommy Baldwin] made a great call. I was trying to do my job of not racing guys and trying to save my gas. All they had to do was run one more lap -- one more lap -- and we wouldn't have had a green-white-checkered."