Hamlin uses emotions to propel him to Pocono win (cont'd)

You hear of drivers putting their emotions on hold when they strap on the helmet. But on Monday, Hamlin let his emotions take over. The good ones helped him lead six times for a total of 91 laps. The bad ones made him dig deeper, particularly when a two-tire stop turned out to be the wrong decision and left the No. 11 Toyota deep in the field with the laps dwindling.

"Every lap, I'll be honest with you, every single lap," Hamlin said. "It comes out. When I got behind, it really started to get frustrating from my standpoint, because I've led many races, I've dominated many races and not won. And I felt like we were about to let it slip away with about 50 laps to go.

"[Crew chief Mike Ford] did a great job of motivating me and just saying, 'Man, give me everything you can for these seven laps.' And I think we gained back two positions on a restart. I was doing everything I could to try and understand and realize, I know it sucks right now but once I got those four tires, I was going to be really good again."

With 30 laps to go, Hamlin was mired in 13th place, but with four fresh tires, he knew all he needed was some clear track to make a late-race charge.

"Clean air meant so much," Hamlin said. "It was seconds of a difference between first and 10th. We just had a great car at the end. It seemed like our car liked four tires and once we put them back on, we were able to get to the front. But before that, it was a struggle for us. On two tires, it seemed like we were no better than anyone else."

On the final restart with 12 laps remaining, Hamlin was sixth, but quickly disposed of several cars on older tires. Still, he had to work his way around Bowyer by being aggressively conservative. He found an opening as the two cars came out of Turn 1 and went to the inside of Bowyer's Chevrolet on the Long Pond straightaway.

"A lot of people ask why you don't drive the car like that every week, and it's hard to do," Hamlin said. "If you do that, you open yourself up to a window of error that could really cost you. Many, many times I nearly wrecked, once going into Turn 3, going for the lead, trying to get beside [Bowyer] when I had 10 laps to go. It's just emotion and trying to get everything I could get.

"I felt like I had to get everything I could get right away. You can be aggressive like that at times, but ... next week, we might end up on the hook with 20 laps to go. Then we're looking at ourselves, thinking we've got to fight for a Chase spot again."

In Victory Lane, Hamlin's voice broke repeatedly when he talked about his grandmother, who provided an emotional grounding in a sport where positive momentum is so hard to find, and even harder to maintain.

"Up until a few weeks ago, she lost her sight totally," Hamlin said. "She couldn't hear very well, she couldn't see very well. She had a 30-inch TV that she sat about four inches from. That's how she could see me, and see my car and everything. She had a FedEx No. 11 bear and always wore her No. 11 socks. She always told me that she put out a prayer to St. Jude for us every weekend.

"... I think today, she's pretty proud."

Just before he left the media center to celebrate his win, Hamlin exhibited one final emotion.

"A lot of it's from what I read," Hamlin said. "We can't close. We've led how many laps and not have a race win? That's the pressure I put on myself. I read too much into it. In the grand scheme of things, we've been the most solid car that doesn't have a Hendrick label on it. For the most point, I take a lot of pride in that and we've taken some strides forward, starting today."