Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Denny Hamlin beat out teammate Kyle Busch to grab his third win of the season and the eighth of his career Saturday at the Nationwide Series Winn Dixie 250 at Daytona.

Denny Hamlin: I didn’t want to happen what did happen, and that was us get out too far. It looked like the 18 took off the same time I did, but it looked like he didn’t want to go, it looked like he was trying to build up a run with the 5. But you know once we pulled about four car-lengths there I just tried to do my best to just ride that —it’s so hard to do — but ride that brake while you’re in the lead to let those guys catch you. Just sit there and let them catch you, but they’ve got to catch you at the right time. You’ve got to put them to a decision. If they catch you in the center of the corner with a big head of steam they need to make a decision. Are they gonna go for the win and sacrifice maybe a good finish, or are they gonna just ride in line and protect what they’ve got. And by doing that in the corner, that’s what decision you make them make, and I think Kyle realized a one-two finish was better than the alternative.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third behind Hamlin and Busch.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: It was fun, I had a good time. The track was real slick; you know we were able to pass more than I thought we would. And Kyle and Denny were real quick, and they handled really really good. I couldn’t run on by like they were, so I really didn’t have many options, I was trying a couple of things and nothing was really working, so it was hard to come up with anything that would have been able to get by them, so. Anybody really, I think, around the top five did a good job cause it was pretty slick out there, but it was a lot of fun.

To hear an audio version of this interview and more about the race at Daytona International Speedway, visit (http://www.nationwide.com/about-us/hamlin-wins-daytona.jsp)

- Courtesy Nationwide Insurance

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