Hamlin survives wild Martinsville to win STP 500

DennyHamlin - Cropped

Denny Hamlin was awarded his fifth grandfather clock of his career at the Martinsville Speedway Sunday, as he won NASCAR's STP 500.

The 34-year-old claimed Martinsville's unique trophy by holding off a charging Brad Keselowski in the closing laps, while Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth and David Ragan rounded out the top five.

In typical Martinsville fashion, drivers traded paint, banged fenders and crunched hoods at the 0.536-mile short track. 

And after 500 laps, Hamlin took the chequered flag.

Keselowski tapped Hamlin in the final turn in a passing attempt but did not get into him hard enough to spin the Joe Gibbs Racing-driver around.

"We just weren't going to be denied today," Hamlin told FOX Sports 1. 

"This is a great race car that's part of a great organization that gives me cars that are able to do it." 

"I really wanted that clock," Keselowski said. 

"At the end we were good at the right time, I just couldn't quite make the move I needed to make to complete the pass... I would have loved another five or 10 laps to keep trying."

Points leader Kevin Harvick finished the day in eighth place, snapping his streak of eight consecutive races with finishes in the top two.

Harvick (263 points) leads the overall standings from Logano (239) and Martin Truex Jr (231).

Keselowski's second-placed finish in Virginia left him in fourth overall with 206 points, while Kasey Kahne (193) wraps up the top five.

Hamlin (172) rose to eighth overall.

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