DON'T SWEAT IT; Denny Hamlin recovers from a mistake to win at Martinsville.(Competition)

Byline: AL PEARCE

Denny Hamlin worked harder to win the Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway than he needed to. He spent half the race overcoming a pit-road mistake that very nearly dealt him another heartbreaking loss. Instead, he rallied to lead the final 74 laps around the half-mile bullring to give Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota their second win in the year's first six races.

Hamlin beat Chevrolet driver Jeff Gordon by less than a half-second. Chevy drivers Jeff Burton (the new points leader) and Jimmie Johnson and Toyota driver Tony Stewart filled out the top five.

Hamlin started second to Gordon, led the first lap and almost effortlessly ran in the top five in the early stages. He was leading when the race went under caution on lap 214, just 36 laps from halfway. And with weather threatening-it was cold, misty and overcast throughout-nobody expected anyone to pit so near the halfway point. So why did Hamlin give up the lead for tires and gas when he didn't have to?

"I want it known that I didn't make that call,'' crew chief Mike Ford said, free to poke fun at his driver. "Denny wasn't supposed to pit unless he saw everybody else coming behind him. He was looking in the mirror when he got to the [pit-in] commitment line and realized nobody else was coming. He knew he'd gone too far to pull back [on the track], so he came on in. We'd talked about not pitting, but he came anyway.''

Hamlin took the heat for the gaffe. "I saw [Johnson] or [Gordon] make a move to the inside like they were going to pit,'' he explained. "When he pulled back on the track, I waited and waited and looked to see if anybody else was going to pit. They were telling me the whole time to stay out, stay out. I'm the one who steered into the pits, so it was a bad decision on my part. If it had cost us the race, it was going to be on my shoulders.''

Hamlin restarted in 19th, losing 18 positions because of his mistake. He raced back into the top 10 by lap 300, into the top five by lap 385 and into the lead for good on lap 427. He wasn't seriously challenged down the stretch as Gordon, Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Johnson spent the final 50 laps fighting for leftovers. Earnhardt led 146 laps, Johnson 135, Gordon 90, Hamlin 82 and Burton 37. Nobody else led more than four.