Denny Hamlin had a tough weekend at the Auto Club Speedway in both the NASCAR Nationwide race on Saturday and the Pepsi 500 on Sunday. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver suffered a hit in the Chase point standings as a result of Sunday's mishap.

Hamlin took over for an ailing Kyle Busch 39 laps into the Copart 300 Saturday and was leading the event when he became sandwiched between Brad Keselowski and Greg Biffle on lap 141 of the originally scheduled 150 lap race. Hamlin, unaware that Biffle had a strong run to his outside, drove high into Biffle and forcing both cars into the wall as Keselowski went by on the low side.

The senior driver at Joe Gibbs Racing later admitted he was focusing on Keselowski and was not aware of Biffle's run to the outside and said "either way it was going to be a bad situation."

Hamlin and Keselowski have had several run-ins this season with the tension escalating between the two after the Dover race a little more than two weeks ago.

Keselowski went on to finish fifth and Biffle was able to continue to a 14th place finish in Saturday's Copart 300.

The Kyle Busch/Denny Hamlin JGR Toyota was credited with a 31st place finish, reducing Kyle Busch's Nationwide Series point lead to a 155 point advantage over Carl Edwards with five races remaining on the 2009 schedule.

Sunday's Pepsi 500 saw Hamlin start from the pole and lead the first 11 laps and settle in for the most part until he won the race off pit road and lined up first for the restart on lap 190. Hamlin was clipped in the rear by Juan Pablo Montoya before entering turn one on the restart, incurring serious damage to the FedEx #11 Toyota.

The JGR team worked feverishly to return Hamlin to the track and ended up 37th in the final rundown. Hamlin dropped from ninth to 12th in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

The NASCAR Nationwide and Cup Series head to the Lowes Motor Speedway this weekend for the Dollar General 300 Friday night and the NASCAR Banking 500 on Saturday night.

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