SONOMA, Calif. -- Friday at Infineon Raceway Denny Hamlin, the Sprint Cup Series' most recent winner, didn't back off his stance on what he called "predictable" late cautions in NASCAR races.

Hamlin, the series' top winner so far this season with five victories, had the dominant car at Michigan and ultimately led 123 of 200 laps.

“

You don't have to be so smart to realize that these things are not by chance.

”

-- DENNY HAMLIN

But after an 80-lap green-flag run that saw Hamlin's No. 11 comfortably out front, a debris caution flew with 17 laps remaining. Despite racing off to a 1.246-second margin of victory over Kasey Kahne after a final, 14-lap run to the checkers, Hamlin spoke of late cautions last Sunday and repeated his sentiments when the question was repeated Friday.

"At no point was I the one to get pissed off about that caution because I knew it was going to happen," Hamlin said. "Legitimate or not, the odds are that we were going to have some non-wreck caution in the last half of the race."

Every variety of "conspiracy theorist" has a field day when a caution flies that can't immediately be verified to his or her satisfaction. Viewers of TNT's "Race Buddy" application on NASCAR.COM saw debris in one of their four views of the action; and driver Ryan Newman said he hit a significant piece of something that significantly damaged his car.

Hamlin's contention is the cautions -- for whatever reason they're thrown -- are virtually inevitable.

"Pocono it was the same way," Hamlin said about the race two weeks ago that he also, coincidentally, won. "We had a long green-flag spell and I knew it was going to be a matter of time before we see a caution for one reason or another.

"I think there's always debris around the track -- without a doubt you can call anything debris. I can look out right now and I can see debris pretty close to the race track [and] you can say that that's a legitimate safety hazard."

On Tuesday evening's "Race Hub" on the SPEED Channel, NASCAR president Mike Helton defended the sanctioning body's policies and actions, both at Michigan and in general. (Continued)