CAPRON, Va. (April 9) - Denny Hamlin of Chesterfield, Va., took the lead
for good on the 49th circuit and sped on to the victory in the 75-lap
Budweiser Late Model Stock Car portion of Friday evening's season-opening
NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series program at
Southampton Motor Speedway.
Hamlin, a four-time winner at SMS in 2003, earned the pole for Friday's
race with a time trial effort of 96.709 mph. Timothy Peters of Providence,
N.C., clocked in at 96.373 mph and shared the front row with Hamlin.
Veteran drivers Phil Warren of Norfolk,
 Va., and Tommy Cherry of South Mills, N.C., made up the second row.
As the race got under way, Hamlin and Peters remained side-by-side. Hamlin
nosed ahead to lead the opening lap by half a car-length, then cleared
Peters' machine in Turn 2 of the second circuit. Peters settled into
second, followed by Warren, Cherry and
Emporia, Va.'s Mike Shearin, who started seventh. The first caution flag
flew on lap 3 as Chesapeake, Va.'s Bob Shreeves spun off Turn 2.
On the ensuing restart, Peters took a quick peek to the inside of Hamlin,
entering Turn 1. Hamlin fended off the advance and opened a two-length
advantage as the leaders rumbled onto the backstretch. By lap 10, his
margin had grown to four car-lengths
over Peters.
Behind the lead duo, Warren pulled a five-car train, which also included
Cherry, Shearin, Mike Conner of Gloucester, Va., and C.E. Falk of Virginia
Beach, Va., making his Late Model debut. On lap 24, Conner and Falk tangled
in close quarters in Turn 4. Conner spun, prompting the second yellow flag.
Lining up for the restart, Hamlin, Peters, Warren, Cherry and Shearin made
up the top five. Back under green, Peters again poked a fender to the
inside of Hamlin. This time, though, he made the move pay off. He pulled
even on the backstretch, edged ahead at the line and gained the clear-cut
advantage out of Turn 4 on lap 25. Gathering himself,
Hamlin made hard charges at Peters on laps 29 and 36, only to be rebuffed.
Deeper in the field, Shearin slipped alongside Cherry for the fourth spot
on lap 35. The two raced door-to-door for a couple laps with Shearin taking
the position on the backstretch on the 37th circuit. At the front, Warren
went after Hamlin for the runner-up spot on lap 42, dipping low off the
fourth corner. Warren fell back in line after a lap. The brief duel,
however, allowed Shearin to close up on the top three runners. On lap 48,
Hamlin launched another bid to regain the top spot, driving under Peters on
the backstretch. He powered out front off Turn 2 on lap 49 to move back
atop the leaderboard.
Taking advantage of the opening, Warren drove alongside Peters. The duo
battled until lap 52 when Warren settled back into third. With Peters and
Warren dueling in his mirror, Hamlin fashioned a three-length gap. The last
of the race's three caution flags waved on lap 69 when Conner, in sixth,
spun on the frontstretch. Bunching for the final restart, Hamlin, Peters,
Warren and Shearin made up the top four, separated from fifth-place Cherry
by a pair of lapped
machines.
Perhaps mindful of how Peters slipped past him earlier in the event, Hamlin
carefully guarded the low groove into Turn 1 as the field went under the
green flag for the sprint to the finish.
Holding Peters at bay on the restart, Hamlin quickly opened a two-length
margin. Peters tried to rally in the closing circuits, but came up short at
the finish by 0.255-second - a little more than a car-length. Warren was
third to the stripe.
Shearin, powered by a GM crate engine for the first time, was fourth, while
Cherry completed the top five. Falk was sixth, followed by fellow Late
Model rookie Travis Miller of Chesapeake. Conner and Shreeves were eighth
and ninth, the final drivers to
complete the entire distance. Junior Hargrave of Pendleton, N.C., was 10th,
a lap down to the leaders.

In the evening's other feature events:

[...]

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