Hamlin dominates field in Busch win

Denny Hamlin fought off a mid-race challenge from Matt Kenseth, then drove away for a dominating victory Saturday in the NASCAR Busch Series Carfax 250 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.

Hamlin, who will also race in today’s Nextel Cup 3M Performance 400, picked up his second Busch Series win of the season and the fourth of his career. His victory gave Cup regulars 22 victories in 25 races on the Busch circuit this season.

A crash during Friday’s practice forced Hamlin’s crew to scramble to get his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet back in shape for racing. But it was ready for the start of the 125-lap race and so was Hamlin.

Kenseth, in a Ford, swapped leads with him a couple of times before Hamlin took control, turning the race on Michigan’s two-mile oval into a rout. Hamlin led four times for 69 laps, including the last 40 laps.

There were three caution flags, all during the first 36 laps, and Hamlin took advantage of the green flag racing the rest of the way. He steadily pulled away, beating Kenseth to the finish line by 6.988 seconds -- the length of the front straightaway.

Nextel Cup drivers took the top seven places, with Kevin Harvick, who had won the last two Busch races, third, followed by Jeff Burton, Biffle, Brian Vickers and Paul Menard. Todd Bodine in eighth was the top non-Cup finisher.

Runaway series leader Carl Edwards spun after being hit from behind by Reed Sorenson and wound up 28th, a lap behind the leaders.

Edwards still leads series runner-up Harvick by 700 points, but Harvick’s team owner, Richard Childress, took the lead in owner points by 40 over Jack Roush, owner of Edwards’ car.

Mat Mladin earned his 60th AMA Superbike victory with a win at Virginia International Raceway in Alton. He rode a Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 for his ninth win of the season.

Starting from the pole, Mladin followed Suzuki’s Aaron Yates for a lap before taking over the lead on the second lap.

Mladin, the six-time AMA Superbike champion then pulled away to a 10.359-second margin of victory.

Making his first division start of the season, pole sitter Nick Joanides used lapped traffic in the late stages of the race to pad his lead in winning the Auto Club Late Model division 40-lap feature at Irwindale Speedway. Dan DiGiacomo finished second, 0.972 of a second behind Joanides.