Fuel-pump problem sours Hamlin's effort at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- For 177 laps in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, no one could touch Denny Hamlin's No. 11 Chevrolet.

That's because no one could catch him.

But when a flat tire caused Jimmie Johnson to slap the outside wall to bring out the 14th caution of the day, Hamlin knew his chances of winning "were dead." He said so on his in-car radio, and he thought so even before learning he had lost the lead to eventual race winner Kyle Busch before the caution flag came out.

Lap-by-Lap

Kyle Busch moved past Denny Hamlin on Lap 485 and held his position through two restarts for fourth career victory.

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That's because Hamlin suffered the same sort of fuel-pump problem that earlier ruined what looked like was going to be a great day for his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart. The No. 20 Chevrolet driven by Stewart was the only car to lead more laps than Hamlin, but a cable on Stewart's fuel pump broke after he led 257 of the first 290 laps.

By the time Stewart got the problem fixed, he was 23 laps down and Hamlin had taken over the lead. For much of the rest of the day, it looked as if Hamlin was the class of the field.

Then came the caution with 15 laps to go. Right away, Hamlin knew it was a death sentence to his chances of winning the race.

"If the race had stayed green, we were good," Hamlin said. "When the 5 car [Busch] caught us in traffic, that was really the only place where he was better than we were. On our own, we were better than anybody. I didn't want to see that caution at the end there -- and when it came out, I knew we were in trouble."

It appeared there was some controversy when there was a bit of a delay in the caution flag being thrown, and Busch passed Hamlin just before it became official. But Hamlin later said it wouldn't have mattered because of his fuel-pump issue, and Busch claimed it was a clean pass under the rules.

Busch also said he thought it was the move that set him up to win the race.

"Coming out of Turn 4 in the front straightway there, I saw the 48 car [Johnson] was having a little bit of trouble. I knew it was going to be jumbled up ... I saw Denny looking to go low, so I just took it up top and stepped my foot to the floor. That probably gave us the win right there, being able to get out front like that," Busch said.

Well, that and the caution. Once they had to slow, they then had a decision to make about whether or not to pit. Hamlin asked crew chief Mike Ford what to do and was told to "follow the 5." So when Busch didn't pit, neither did Hamlin or Greg Biffle, who was running in third. Others who would move up to finish second, third and fourth -- Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick -- pitted and took on four tires, setting up an interesting finish that would not include the fading Hamlin.

He eventually dropped all the way to a 14th-place finish that was a bitter pill to swallow.

"I thought I had the lead [when the caution came out after Johnson's brush with the wall]. The way it turned out, with our mechanical failures, it wouldn't have mattered," Hamlin said. "It was just a tough day. It was disappointing.

"There was nothing we were going to overcome. It was a mechanical issue. There was nothing I could have done; there was nothing our crew could have done. It was just bad luck.

"Pitting wouldn't have mattered for us. The 5 car won with no tires. We were in good shape. We all thought if it would have gone to the end, we would have had it. Unfortunately, it didn't go to the end and we didn't get it."