Denny Hamlin

THIS WEEK'S RACE Quicken Loans 400 Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Mich. When: Sunday, 1 p.m. TV/Radio: TNT/WNPV (1440-AM) Race course: 2-mile oval Race distance: 200 laps/400 miles Race forecast: chance of isolated thunderstorms, mid-80s Last year's winner: Denny Hamlin Last year's pole winner: Kurt Busch, 188.699 mph Track qualifying record: Ryan Newman, 194.232 mph (June 2005)

TUMS Fast Relief 500 Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville Va. When: 1:30 p.m. Sunday TV/Radio: ESPN/WNPV (1440-AM) Race course: .526-mile oval Race distance: 500 laps/263 miles Race forecast: sunny, high 50s Last year's winner: Denny Hamlin Last year's pole: Hamlin Track qualifying record: Tony Stewart (98.083 mph), October 2005 Wins: Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, 4 each; Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, 3 each; Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, 2 each; Carl Edwards, Trevor Bayne, Regan Smith, Denny Hamlin, David Ragan, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard, Marcos Ambrose, Clint Bowyer, 1 each.

THIS WEEK'S RACE Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR Pocono Raceway Long Pond, Pa. When: Sunday, 1 p.m. TV/Radio: TNT/WNPV (1440-AM) Race course: 2.5-mile tri-oval Race distance: 400 miles/160 laps Race forecast: chance of thunderstorms, low 80s Last year's winner: Jeff Gordon Last year's pole winner: Kurt Busch, 171.579 mph Track qualifying record: Kasey Kahne, 172.533 mph (June 2004)

RICHMOND, Va. - It might be Denny Hamlin's hometown track, but his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate is finding Victory Lane a familiar parking spot. Kyle Busch had enough fuel to hold off Hamlin to win Saturday night's Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway. It was his second Sprint Cup Series victory of the season. Between them, Busch and Hamlin have won the last five Cup races at Richmond. The first 107 laps of the race were incident-free. During that caution-free span, five drivers took turns at the point.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. - Denny Hamlin ducked under Matt Crafton with five laps to go and won the NASCAR Truck Series race Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. The victory was Hamlin's second in the series and came as the championship standings were significantly jumbled. Ty Dillon, who has led since mid-September, cut a tire with 48 laps to go and went from running sixth to finishing 28th. James Buescher, one point behind Dillon to start the day, finished sixth to take a 21-point lead over Dillon.

THIS WEEK'S RACE Lenox Industrial Tools 301 New Hampshire Motors Speedway Loudon, N.H.   When: Sunday, 1 p.m. TV/Radio: TNT/WNPV (1440-AM) Race course: 1.058-mile oval Race distance: 301 laps/318.458 miles Race forecast: partly cloudy, high 80s Last year's winner: Ryan Newman Last year's pole winner: Newman, 135.232 mph (track record) Track facts: Newman led six times for 119 laps (including the final 72)

LONG POND, Pa. - Jimmie Johnson absolutely dominated Sunday at Pocono Raceway for his third victory of the season. The Sprint Cup points leader, Johnson pulled away on both of the last two restarts over the final 10 laps of the Party in the Poconos 400 to pull into Victory Lane at Pocono for the first time since 2004. Johnson also won the Daytona 500 as well as the STP Gas Booster 500 at Martinsville this season. He led for 128 of 160 laps for his 63d career Cup victory, and was never seriously challenged.

LONG POND, Pa. - It's go time for Denny Hamlin. With 13 races remaining before NASCAR's Chase for the Championship begins, Hamlin is 26th in points. After recuperating from a compression fracture in a lower vertebrae sustained in a race crash March 24 at California, Hamlin has had two top-five finishes. At Dover last Sunday, after qualifying fastest and leading 41 laps, he crashed late in the race when the right front tire on his No. 11 Toyota shredded; he finished 34th. Hamlin's only hope is to win races and gain a wild-card berth in the Chase.

DOVER, Del. - Denny Hamlin has tried to learn to love Dover. He just can't. Not yet, at least. Maybe Hamlin has to learn to win at Dover before he can truly embrace the mile concrete oval. Hamlin has been tormented for years by the track and voiced his disdain for Dover as finishes in the 30s or worse piled up. Hamlin also knows he can't focus on the past disappointments. He has to conquer his Dover demons and try to win there if he wants to keep alive his long-shot bid to make the Chase.

DOVER, Del. - The track was so hot at Friday's qualifying session for the FedEx 400 at Dover International Speedway that some crews placed bags of ice on the rims of their cars to cool them down. Nearby, Danica Patrick tried to cool down questions about her wreck involving her boyfriend, Ricky Stenhouse, on Sunday at Charlotte. Patrick admitted Friday that she was upset with Stenhouse at the time, but she said Wednesday that the couple was fine and had moved on. Still, she endured many of the same questions at Dover, some of them bordering on personal.

THIS WEEK'S RACE Toyota Owners 400 Richmond International Raceway Richmond, Va. When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m. TV/Radio: FOX29/WNPV (1440-AM) Course: Three-quarter-mile, D-shaped oval Distance: 400 laps/300 miles Forecast: partly cloudy, high 60s Last year's winner: Kyle Busch Last year's pole: Mark Martin, 128.327 mph Track qualifying record: Brian Vickers, 129.983 mph (May 2004) Track facts: Kyle Busch led 32 laps, including the last 13, to win last year's race.

THIS WEEK'S RACE STP 400 Kansas Speedway Kansas City, Kan. When: Sunday, 1 p.m. TV/Radio: Fox/WNPV (1440-AM) Course: 1.5-mile oval Distance: 267 laps/400 miles Forecast: cloudy, low 60s Last year's winner: Denny Hamlin Last year's pole: A.J. Allmendinger, 175.993 mph Track qualifying record: Kasey Kahne, 191.360 mph (October 2012) Track facts: Denny Hamlin led the final 31 laps to win last year's race. He paced only one other lap. Martin Truex Jr. was runner-up.

A RECURRING theme in NASCAR is a resident villain. Drivers in "black hats" have included Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Kurt and Kyle Busch. Say hello to the 2013 villain, Joey Logano: "Here's our black-hat selection, Mr. Logano. What size do you wear?" The Connecticut native seems like a nice, young guy. But there is a sense among some in NASCAR that Logano, 22, is spoiled. Starting at age 6, his racing was financed by his father, Tom. A couple of years ago, after encountering a problem racing with Kevin Harvick, Logano said it was clear who wears the firesuit in the Harvick family, a clear reference to Harvick's wife, DeLana.

DENNY HAMLIN suffered a compression fracture in his lower spine during a last-lap crash Sunday in Fontana, Calif., while racing for the win against former teammate Joey Logano, and Joe Gibbs Racing gave no indication Monday how long its driver could be sidelined. "I just want to go home," Hamlin tweeted from a hospital in Southern California. He later posted a photo of himself giving a thumbs-up and appeared to be wearing a back brace. The team said he had what is called an L1 compression fracture; essentially, the first vertebra in the lumbar section of his spine collapsed.

FONTANA, Calif. - Kyle Busch earned his first victory of the season at Fontana on Sunday after rivals Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano wrecked on the final lap in a thrilling NASCAR finish. Hamlin and Logano made contact while they raced side-by-side in the final lap of their first race since the drivers confronted each other last week at Bristol. Logano hit the outside wall and Hamlin hit the inside wall, with Hamlin getting attention in an ambulance and eventually getting airlifted to a hospital due to traffic around the track.