Kasey Kahne capitalizes on Denny Hamlin’s pit road miscommunication; wins Lenox Industrial Tools 301

With apologies to Denny Hamlin fans, I’m grateful that Darian Grubb made the decision to give Hamlin four tires instead of two on that last pit stop. It gave the final 66 laps something the first two-thirds of the race had missed entirely -- action and excitement.
Hamlin dominated most of the afternoon, leading 150 laps (of 301) and probably would have took the victory if not for the miscommunication with Grubb.
Instead, it was Kasey Kahne who took two tires, left the pits first and maximized clean air to hold-off a hard-charging Hamlin for his second victory of the season.
It’s not that I was actively rooting for Kahne or against Hamlin. The race was just missing something. When a race-dominant Kyle Busch suffered a pit road penalty earlier in the race, most assumed that it would spruce up the battle for the lead.
Instead, the race just traded Busch for Hamlin and watched the latter run off to a six-second lead with hardly any cautions or breaks to promise any changes.
Watching Hamlin, who restarted 11th on the final restart, work his way through the field in a valiant attempt to recapture the lead is exactly what this race was missing, and what it needed at the end to captivate the audience.
Hamlin made it close, getting to second place and within a second of Kahne with two laps to go, but simply ran out of time. The decision to go with four tires instead of two was a misunderstanding, as Hamlin told Grubb he needed only tires on the last stop.
Grubb interpreted the response as a plea for four tires, and Hamlin fell from the lead to all the way out of the top-10. As Ranting and Raving contributor Aaron Rosser mentioned on Twitter in the closing laps, “Calls like that are part of why Darian isn’t on the No.14 pit box anymore.”
Harsh, but likely true.
Just like the Nationwide Series race that preceded it, Sunday’s race placed a premium on track position. Hamlin lost it, and Kahne secured it, winning his first race since the Coca-Cola 600 in May.
Despite his Daytona 500 victory and 2011 Sprint Cup Series championship, Darian Grubb always seems to make controversial calls for his driver - and they always seem to blow up in his face. The fall of 2011 is the exception and not the rule.
Is Grubb one of the elite crew chiefs in NASCAR or will mistakes like today limit the potential of what he can be? Answer this question, and provide feeback for today’s race, in the comments section below.
A complete finishing order can be found after the jump.

Despite all the attention placed on Hamlin and Grubb, Kasey Kahne was really impressive in Sunday’s victory. The win was his first since Charlotte in May, and likely ensures him at least a wild card berth once the Chase begins in eight weeks.

[HD] NASCAR 2012 - New Hampshire Lenox Industrial Tools 301 (Finish) (via NARLtv)

Victory Lane: Kasey Kahne (via TheOfficialNASCAR)