LOUDON, N.H. - Denny Hamlin stepped out of his car Sunday, pointed into the air, and took a mighty swing of an invisible baseball bat. Like Babe Ruth before him (or so the legend goes), Hamlin had called his shot.
The top winner in NASCAR's regular season earned his Sprint Car Series-leading fifth victory of the year, backing up a tweet of "We will win" with a dominating run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Sunday's Sylvania 300 was the second event of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. It was the 100th career victory for team owner Joe Gibbs.
A plastic bag was sucked onto the front of Hamlin's car, blocking part of the air intake, with about a third of the race to go. Kyle Busch, who had blown a cylinder and is not a part of the Chase, slowed to allow his teammate to come up behind him. The turbulence between the cars blew the debris off.
