Spoiler Alert: Hamlin Wins Fifth Race of 2010

Denny Hamlin's won five of the last 10 races since NASCAR reverted to the spoiler earlier this season. Photo courtesy NASCAR.

Denny Hamlin must like NASCAR’s new spoiler.

When NASCAR made the switch from the rear wing back to the spoiler for the Sprint Cup Series in March, Hamlin won the first race at Martinsville, and so far, has four more wins, including the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway Sunday. That’s five wins in the past 10 races – the most Hamlin’s ever won in his Sprint Cup career, now in its fifth full-time year.

Like last week at his win at Pocono, Hamlin dominated throughout the race, this time leading 123 of 200 laps at the two-mile track.

“All we do is win, baby – two in a row,” Hamlin said over the radio to his crew, a mantra that’s been the theme to the No. 11 team’s 2010 campaign.Hamlin forged a nine-second lead over second place Kasey Kahne before a debris caution came out on lap 182, tightening the field.

“I knew a caution was coming, so I might as well back off and save my tires,” Hamlin said. “I knew that debris caution was coming. We’ve got to do what’s right for the fans, and they need to see a great race at the end.”

Kahne was one of nine Ford teams running the new FR9 engine. The new engine is said to run cooler, which in theory, allows teams to put tape on more of the front grill. More tape means the car is more aerodynamic and handles better, but limits the amount of cool air that can get into the engine and keep it from overheating. The new engine is still a work in progress and many Ford teams dealt with overheating issues, the result, no doubt, of being too aggressive with the front nose tape.

Despite the challenges, Kahne said the new engine is an improvement for his team. “We had the new Ford engine, and it was night and day difference to what I had last week,” he said. “I’m really happy with the FR9 engine. For our first time racing it, it was a nice improvement. I think that bodes well for all the Ford teams. I think we will all run better now.”

Of course, by the time the Ford camp gets this new engine figured out, Kahne will most likely have moved on to his new interim team for 2011, before getting behind the wheel of Rick Hendrick’s No. 5 Chevrolet in 2012.

Kurt Busch started on the pole, lead 60 laps and finished third, followed by Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.

“We had a strong car early on,” Busch said. “It seems like we lost a little bit of speed as the race went on, lost a little grip when the track rubbered in.

“Denny Hamlin, once halfway rolled around, his car had really good grip,” Busch added.

It’s the second straight win for a Toyota team at the track located in the backyard of America’s Big Three automakers. Red Bull Racing’s Brian Vickers won last August at Michigan. Vickers is sidelined this year due to a medical condition. His substitute driver, Casey Mears, has struggled thus far, and wrecked fellow Red Bull driver Scott Speed during the race.

Hamlin picked up some ground in the points on leader Kevin Harvick, who finished 19th, one spot ahead of Hamlin’s teammate Kyle Busch. With 15 races in the books, Harvick leads the points, ahead of Kyle Busch by 22 points and Hamlin by 47. Stewart also gained in the points, up two spots to 11th, putting him within the 12-driver cutoff for the Chase, which begins 11 races from now in September.