Gibbs teammates pay dearly for miscues

LOUDON, N.H. — Jimmie Johnson succinctly summarized Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“It was the Gibbs cars and the Hendrick cars,” Johnson said. And the story of two pit stops. Kasey Kahne won, but the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 probably will be remembered as much for why Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch didn’t.

Busch started on the pole and led the first 66 laps before being penalized for speeding while stopping under green, the first of two pit miscues that relegated him to 16th.

The heartbreak was even tougher for Hamlin, who led a race-high 150 laps before a final stop for four tires dropped him from first to 13th. He charged to second in the final 60 laps before running out of time.

“You try to be as optimistic as possible, but you know that was a death sentence,” Hamlin said of the strategy. “You’re disappointed because you’ve got a dominant car.”

There was plenty of frustration to go around at the two powerhouse teams despite the solid performances. At various points, the top seven included Busch and Hamlin plus the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets of Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Johnson (seventh) briefly got caught a lap down by pitting before the final caution came out. Gordon (sixth) was unhappy with the quality of Goodyear’s tire and his car’s performance when it took the lead on lap 90 by remaining on track during a caution. He was passed by Hamlin four laps after the restart.

“I’m really disappointed,” said Gordon, who is fighting for a Chase for the Sprint Cup wild-card berth. “I don’t feel like that we had the car that we needed to be more competitive. When we got track position, we weren’t able to maintain it.”

Earnhardt (fourth) shored up his second-place ranking in the standings with his eighth top-five and also maintained his streak of having completed all 5,488 laps (a record to start a season).