Jimmie Johnson knew he was going to have to do something big to get past Denny Hamlin for the lead.  That something big came on Lap 485 when Johnson drove his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet hard into the third turn under Hamlin’s Toyota.  Sticking his nose under Hamlin, the rear of the No. 48 slid out and forced the three-time champ to do all he could to hang on.  The two cars drifted up the track between Turns 3 and 4 and Johnson got back to the gas took the lead.

From there on out, Johnson set his sights on the checkered flag and never looked back. 

The move Johnson made for the lead was in response to Hamlin’s move on a restart on Lap 455.  Restarting behind the No. 48 with teammate Kyle Busch on the inside, Hamlin got a great jump on Johnson and dove into Turn 1 to take the top-spot.  Hamlin was never really able to pull away and Johnson took the time to plan his move perfectly.

Taking the win, Johnson earned his fifth victory at the Martinsville Speedway in the last six races – the only other driver to win in those last six races was Hamlin. 

"I just took my time," Johnson said following his first victory of 2009.  "I felt like I was a little bit better than the No. 11 on the long haul and I was able to stay with him and get closer and closer.  I went into turn three and got inside of him and just started racing.  I think he was trying to not leave me a lot of room which is what you do.  Before I knew it, I was up on the curb and we made contact and were sliding sideways.  It certianly wasn't something intentional.  I was just trying to get in there and get the win.  I was in there and he was coming down and made some contact.  Thankfully neither of us spun out and he was able to recover and finish second.

"I think it's a huge confidence booster for the new guys that are on our race team," Johnson went on to say.  "It's a confidence booster for Chad and I.  We didn't have an easy day today.  We had to stay together as a team, work through a lot of changes, a loss of track position to make the car better and fight for the front, count on pit stops, count on good driving.  It took a team effort today."

Unable to mount a counter charge, Hamlin was forced to settle for second in a race he clearly dominated.  Leading four times for a total of 296 laps, all he could do was stand on pit road and watch the No. 48 celebrate with the checkered flag doing donuts in the corner.

“We came up short,” Hamlin said after the race.  “That was short track racing.  I would’ve done the same thing to him, and if it comes back around, I will do the same.  It’s just the way it is.  In Martinsville, you have to battle for every inch, and I was trying to protect a spot, and he was trying to get it at the end of the race.  That’s the way it goes.”

After Hamlin’s daring move on the restart on with forty-five laps to go, the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota knew with Johnson in his mirror something was coming.

 “You do expect it,” Hamlin said of Johnson’s late-race move.  “I thought maybe it would happen a little bit later in the race.  I thought he was just going to sit there and ride and ride and then wait to the last couple of laps to do it, but you have to think of it from his standpoint.  He doesn’t know if my car’s going to get better and his car’s going to get worse, then next thing you know I’m too far away to him to make a move like that.

“I couldn’t get back to him he got me loose enough to where he was able to pull five car lengths and we were only able to gain two of those back in the last fifteen laps,” Hamlin went on to say.  “So, to me I think he did it just right.  It’s just one of the days the tables will be turned and I’m sure he’ll expect it, that’s just part of it.”

The beating and banging that was missing from last weekend's race at the Bristol Motor Speedway was in full force Sunday at Martinsville.  Tight racing in heavy traffic made for a great contest between all of the front runners for much of the afternoon.  Next weekend the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series made the trip to the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway for the Samsung 500.