Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Denny Hamlin circles the track with the checkered flag after winning. It was Hamlin's first Cup victory of the season.

Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton switched leads throughout much of the Sprint Cup race Monday.

Photos by SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

Virginian Denny Hamlin celebrates winning the Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 on Monday in Martinsville. Hamlin started fourth on the green-white-checkered restart.

Photos by SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

Race winner Denny Hamlin performs a burnout Monday at Martinsville Speedway. Hamlin blew his right rear tire in the celebration.

Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

With water still standing on the ground from Sunday's rains, crews ready cars for the Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 Monday.

Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Pit crews use dryers to dry pit areas before the start of Monday's Sprint Cup race.

MARTINSVILLE -- On a track so tough to pass on, in a position too far back to win from, Denny Hamlin huffed and puffed and then mashed the accelerator, running into, by and around those between him and a much-needed victory.

"No apologies," he said.

Emboldened by four new tires, a sense of desperation and the sight of someone else winning a race he told his team Saturday he was going to win, Hamlin thrilled fans who returned to Martinsville Speedway for Monday's rain-delayed Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500.

He will not forget his charge from fourth in the final two laps.

"The most gratifying win I've had," Hamlin said after punctuating his ninth career Sprint Cup victory with multiple burnouts that blew his right rear tire.

At a place that promotes old-school racing, this is just about the way it used to be. Drivers left angry. Jeff Gordon admitted he hit Matt Kenseth on the next-to-last lap to ensure Kenseth didn't win. It came in retaliation for a hit Kenseth put on him seconds earlier.

Weaving through the maze of colliding cars, Hamlin's teammate, Joey Logano, finished second.

"Just kept filling holes when people were washing up and hitting each other," he said.

Gordon, seconds from winning before a final caution extended the race, finished third.

The day's drama, though, seemed to dissipate when a cut tire ruined the duel Hamlin and Jeff Burton had until about 15 laps before the scheduled end. Burton repeatedly pressured Hamlin for the lead but couldn't take it before the slow leak forced him to retreat. It later put him into the wall, creating a caution eight laps from the scheduled finish.

Even with Hamlin leading, crew chief Mike Ford called his driver in to pit, figuring fresh tires would make a difference. Teammate Kyle Busch, running second, followed.

No one else in the top 10 did.

"I never doubted him," team president J.D. Gibbs said with a smile about Ford's call, "but in reality I was cussing him."

Hamlin restarted ninth.

Little was said on the radio to Hamlin. Really, nothing needed to be said.

The preseason favorite to challenge Jimmie Johnson for the championship, Hamlin's season has not gone as well as expected. Blown tires have hurt him in previous races, putting him 19th in the points entering this race. With reconstructive knee surgery scheduled Wednesday to repair a torn ACL, there are questions about how effective he'll be in the car the next few weeks as he recovers.

He needed a strong finish.

When the green flag waved again, four laps remained until the scheduled finish. On the tight track, the odds against Hamlin winning were immense.

Gordon shot to the lead and appeared headed for his eighth victory at this track and first since 2005 at Martinsville. Cars ran three-wide behind, and Busch was shoved into the wall, creating another caution less than 100 yards before Gordon began the final lap. Had Gordon started the final lap, the race could not have been extended beyond 500 laps.

"There were cars blowing tires, hitting the wall [and] they weren't throwing the caution. One spins out and they threw the caution in a blink of an eye," said Gordon, who has been winless for nearly a year.

Hamlin was fourth when that yellow flag flew. With the double-file restarts, he started on the outside of row 2 on what was the final restart.

Hamlin hit the back of Ryan Newman's car, restarting in front of him, in turn 1 as Kenseth ran into the back of Gordon's car. Kenseth's contact sent Gordon up the track and into Hamlin's path. Kenseth scooted low.

"If a guy gives you a cheap shot like that, he doesn't deserve to win the race," Gordon said of Kenseth.

Gordon and Kenseth ran side by side for the lead down the backstretch.

Gordon clipped Kenseth, sending Kenseth up the track into the turn-4 wall, clearing the path for Hamlin to take the lead.

"I do not believe this," Hamlin radioed his crew as he came to the checkered flag. "I don't believe this!"