Hamlin sweeps at Darlington

Associated Press

DARLINGTON, S.C.

It was just six races ago that Denny Hamlin’s championship chances were being seriously questioned.

His season started off slowly, he was headed for surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left knee and the preseason pick to dethrone Jimmie Johnson had slipped to longshot status.

Well, guess who’s back?

Hamlin continued his quest to prove his doubters wrong by becoming the first driver in 17 years to sweep Darlington Raceway. His win Saturday night was his third in the last six races — second since his March 31st knee surgery — tying him with four-time defending champion Johnson for most in the Sprint Cup Series.

Hamlin, who has moved from 15th to sixth in the standings during that span, is now the hottest driver in the series.

The only concern now: Is he peaking too early? The championship is decided over the final 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, and Hamlin needs to be at his best then if he’s going to end Johnson’s reign.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am about us winning right now because I know what our team is capable of when we get to Chase time,” he said. “We are running last year’s cars for the most part, and we’re just kind of easing our way into it. We didn’t expect this success, but we felt like we could contend for race wins and maybe get one here or there in the first 12.”