Hamlin Starts Hometown Weekend Perfect

Kyle Busch may be the hottest driver in all of NASCAR right now, but Denny Hamlin isn't letting his teammate show the familiar prowess at Hamlin's home track.

Indeed, Friday was very, very good for the driver of the No. 11 Toyota as he found himself in victory lane twice already -- first for winning the pole for Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series event at Richmond International Raceway and then for winning the Nationwide Lipton Tea 250.

Hamlin scored the pole for the Sprint Cup Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400 126.198mph -- enough to fend off Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammates Mark Martin and Martin Truex Jr. Patrick Carpentier qualified an impressive fourth while Reed Sorenson rounded out the Top-5.

On the Nationwide Series side of things, it was pretty much business as usual for Joe Gibbs Racing as Hamlin continued a 5-race winning streak for the team. Hamlin passed Kevin Harvick with just over 10 laps to go to secure the victory at the track roughly 20 miles from his home.

Teammate Busch, though, had the most fun of the night after getting in to a near-fight with Steven Wallace after the race. The two had banged back and forth for the closing laps and then had to be separated on pit road.