Hamlin had just won the race, his second of the 2009 season. He had locked up the fourth seed in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. And the Chesterfield, Va. native had just scored his first win in eight races at his home track, Richmond International Raceway. He led 299 of the 400 laps (including the final 195) and easily captured WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors for the fourth time this season. Hamlin held off Kurt Busch by .378 seconds to win, his sixth victory in 141 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

Cars using WIX Filters claimed their third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory and have now won 13 of the 26 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races this season in addition to the Budweiser Shootout and Sprint All-Star Race. Five of the 12 drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup use WIX Filters: Tony Stewart, Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya.

“This is my house,” Hamlin said after the race. “It has been for the last two years, we just haven’t got the win to show it. Finally our FedEx Toyota showed that we’re a championship contender.

“It's a good run for our team. It's how we have run the last few times here and just haven't got the win. You know, today everything just came together. We had good pit stops and didn't make any mistakes. We just kind of paced ourselves at the beginning.”

And just how special was Hamlin’s victory at the .75-mile speedway?

“Like a Daytona 500 win for anyone else,” Hamlin said. “But this one in particular, to me, was ‑‑ especially after all the heartbreak, it makes it more gratifying to win now. It's by far the biggest win of my career and hopefully goes a long way for this race team over the next ten weeks.”

Hamlin and Jeff Gordon waged an entertaining battle for the lead during the middle stages of the race. The duo exchanged the lead six times over a 100-lap period before Hamlin pulled away.

“That was a ball racing with Jeff (Gordon) there for a while upfront,” Hamlin said. “I was just trying to measure them up and see what I had in case I had to race these guys at the end but for the most part we had the most dominant car all day.”

Hamlin is optimistic about his chances to win the championship, thanks in large part to improvement in the team’s intermediate program. He begins his quest for the series title seeded fourth in the standings, 20 points behind leader Mark Martin.

“We are bringing good cars to the track and being competitive and competing for race wins every week,” Hamlin said. “That's something we didn't have in our rookie year when we were racing for the championship. We were racing for the championship on short tracks. We would gain all of our points there and lose them all once we got to the bigger tracks. Now I feel like our big track program, our mile‑and‑a‑half program is better than our short track program. I think with those six or seven races on big tracks, I'm looking forward to. It I think it kind of sets up nicely for us.”

Hamlin averaged 96.601 mph in a race that took 3 hours, six minutes and 20 seconds to complete. There were 12 lead changes among four drivers and the pace was slowed by 10 cautions for 56 laps.

Since 1939, WIX® Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, has been an innovator in filtration products. WIX designs, manufactures and distributes products for automotive, diesel, agricultural, industrial and specialty filter markets. Its product line includes oil, air, cabin interior, fuel, coolant, transmission and hydraulic filters for automobiles, trucks and off-road equipment. WIX, a member of the Affinia family of brands, is the number one filter in NASCAR and an exclusive NASCAR Performance Product. Its NASCAR relationship also includes the WIX Filters Lap Leader Award, which recognizes the drivers leading the most laps in each race. For more information, visit www.wixfilters.com.

Affinia Group Inc. is an innovative global leader in the design, manufacture, distribution and marketing of industrial grade products and services, including extensive offerings of aftermarket parts for automotive and heavy-duty vehicles. With more than $2 billion in annual revenue, Affinia has operations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and India. For more information, visit www.affiniagroup.com.

*Affinia Group Inc.’s affiliated companies include Brake Parts Inc. WIX Filtration Corp LLC, Affinia Products Corp LLC and other high quality manufacturers of the Affinia family of brands.