By Ryan - Posted on May 12, 2010

No one since Mark Martin, in 1993, has swept both series races at Darlington Raceway. That is, until Saturday night. Denny Hamlin, one of the three most dominant cars the entire race, led 104 of the 367 laps, and was the only one of the three who was mistake-free in late pit stops, which sealed the win for him.

This was Hamlin’s first win at Darlington, but he didn’t seem surprised. “We had a top-two car all day," Hamlin said. "Us, Jeff and the other Jeff were really strong." Of course, Hamlin was referring to Gordon and Burton.

Late in the race, Gordon had planned to pit under the green flag, but could not negotiate the entrance to pit road, due to cars coming up behind him. He pitted on the next lap, but David Reutimann spun, which brought out the caution. The yellow flag caught Gordon on pit road, and he had to go straight back out on the track so he did not go a lap down.

The other Jeff – Burton – gave up the lead to pit. He exited pit road in third place, but ran over his air hose on the way out. He was penalized for that, and lost 9 places on the track.

When all pit stops were over, there were 20 laps to go; Hamlin was in first place, Gordon was 12th, and Burton was 13th. No one could overcome Hamlin’s strong restart, and he won easily, tying Jimmie Johnson for the most wins this season with three.

Jamie McMurray finished a strong race after his start from the pole by coming in second. Kurt Busch was third, and Gordon weaved his way from 12th at the restart to finish 4th. Juan Montoya finished 5th.

The Cup Series leader, Kevin Harvick, finished right behind Montoya. He had come into the race with a slim 10-point lead over defending champion Jimmie Johnson, but left with a much larger lead, due to the misfortune suffered by Johnson in the race. A.J. Allmendinger broke loose, and flew up the racetrack sideways and backwards, hitting Johnson squarely – and hard – in the driver’s side. This instance of being “in the wrong place at the wrong time” led to a 36th place, and a 100-point loss to Kevin Harvick in the standings. It has indeed been a difficult time for Johnson. Three races ago, he had a 108-point lead over 2nd place; he is now 110 points out of the lead.

The remainder of the top ten consisted of Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman, and Brian Vickers.