Denny Hamlin wins wreck-filled Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen

Denny Hamlin can stop kicking himself over losing what appeared to be a sure road-course win on the final turn at Sonoma Raceway earlier this season.

That's because Hamlin won the eventful, wreck-filled Cheez-It 355 Sunday at Watkins Glen International -- the only other road course on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule.

Hamlin did it on a day when he woke up with back spasms that he said threatened to keep him out of the car.

Hamlin also did so by surviving a series of multi-car accidents that brought out several cautions and subsequent restarts down the stretch. And the restarts were absolutely crazy.

"I just woke up with back spasms. It hits me every three or four months, where I wake up and I just can't move," Hamlin said. "I really doubted being in the race car today, to be honest with you. But I'm just really proud of this FedEx Freight Toyota team. We should have won at both road courses, which is something we never would have predicted going into the year."

The final three laps evolved into a battle to the finish between Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski. But as they came to take the checkered flag, Keselowski made contact with and turned Truex, who later expressed his displeasure with the move by bumping Keselowski after the race was completed.

"It was my fault, and I told him that," said Keselowski after apologizing to Truex. "The last thing I wanted to do was turn him."

"Yeah, he told me it was his fault. But I already knew that," said a disappointed Truex, who finished seventh.

Joey Logano finished second in the race, with Keselowski, AJ Allmendinger and Tony Stewart rounding out the top five.

Meanwhile, Hamlin went 41 laps after his final pit stop to win for the second time this season. But it was his first victory since he claimed the season-opening Daytona 500 back in February -- and made up for when Hamlin lost out to Tony Stewart at Sonoma when he overdrove his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on the final turn heading to the checkered flag.

"This means a lot," Hamlin said. "I can't tell you how disappointed I was that we didn't win the first one."

On a restart with 11 to go, the front row of then-leader Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch, running second, both overshot Turn 1 -- leaving the door open for Hamlin to pass both for the lead as yet another in a string of wrecks on the day unfolded behind them, bringing out yet another caution.

On the subsequent restart, Hamlin was the leader on the inside with Keselowski in second, on the outside of the front row. Hamlin surged to the front as Keselowski had trouble getting up to speed and fell back all the way to fifth.

But before they could even complete a single lap, there was still another wreck behind the leaders. This one involved Kevin Harvick, Paul Menard, Chris Buescher and David Ragan, among others, to bring out the days's second red flag for track cleanup.

During the ensuing restart, Hamlin again forged ahead of the pack. 

He stayed ahead when Keselowski turned Truex, ending all suspense as to who would be the winner.

It was an eventful day for the rest of the field as well.

Jeff Gordon's 800th career in NASCAR's top national touring series got off to a rocky start as he ran into the back of Austin Dillon in theinner loop on Lap 6 of the 90-lap race. 

Dillon was running 17th when suddenly slowed down going into the inner loop, and when he did, Gordon's No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet ran into the back of him.

The contact seriously damaged the left-front of Gordon's car, and he quickly began to fall through the field. By Lap 10, Gordon was all the way back to 26th place in the 40-car field.

Gordon, who was subbing as driver of the No. 88 for Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the third consecutive week as Earnhardt recovers from concussion-like symptoms, who had to rally to finish 14th.

The early part of the race also was marked by a spate of pit-road penalties that slowed Stewart, Allmendinger, Logano, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards and Joey Logano.

And on a restart on Lap 53, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got loose in Turn 5 and ending up shooting back across the track, where Johnson slammed into him and triggiered a big pile-up that also took out Austin Dillon and Greg Biffle.

"We were just hustling hard on that restart and got loose over the curb and just kind of spun," Stenhouse said. "From that point we were just along for the ride. It looked like everybody scattered and it was probably pretty hard to see. We got hit pretty hard."

Johnson said he was thankful Stenhouse was not injured in the incident.

"I remember seeing a door number and I was so thankful it was the passenger-side door and not the driver-side door because I plowed him. I really hit the car hard," Johnson said. "I was afraid that I might have injured him. But thankfully he's okay and everybody is all right. 

While no one was seriously injured, the race was red-flagged for the first time to allow crews to clean up the track.

They barely got going again when there was another multi-car wreck involving some of the top cars, including those of Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman.

Hamlin survived it all to go to Victory Lane, although he tore his car up so badly during a celebratory post-race burnout that he had to walk there -- or rather limp there because of his aching back.

But it was Keselowski who summed up the afternoon best.

"It was another crazy Watkins Glen day," he said.