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Monday, March 17, 2008

Hamlin rues the win that got away




For Denny Hamlin, Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway was an uphill battle that went downhill in a hurry, once the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota reached the top of the mountain.Hamlin's car was damaged during a wreck that started with Paul Menard's Chevy tagging the Dodge of rookie Dario Franchitti on Lap 279. The accident triggered a chain reaction that also collected the Chevy of Casey Mears and sent it spinning into Hamlin's Camry.After pitting twice to repair damage to his right rear fender, Hamlin restarted last among lead-lap cars but gradually worked his way to the front. On Lap 497, just three short of the intended finish, Hamlin passed Joe Gibbs racing teammate Tony Stewart for the lead.But Hamlin's luck wouldn't hold. A lap later, Kevin Harvick's Chevy slid up into Stewart's Toyota in Turn 1, necessitating a green-white-checkered finish that extended the race by six laps. Hamlin led the restart but surrendered the point to eventual winner Jeff Burton when a fuel pickup problem slowed his car after he exited Turn 2.Even though he had stayed out on tires (along with Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr.), while Harvick and Burton led the rest of the contenders to the pits for fresh rubber under caution on Lap 491, Hamlin was convinced the fuel problem cost him the race."Another really frustrating day for us," Hamlin said. "I know I could have held those guys off there at the end, but we were either out of fuel, or it was a fuel pickup problem like we had here last year. By all of our calculations, we were good on fuel to the end, including a green-white-checkered, but we just couldn't seem to pick all of it up."It's been that kind of season for us. We can't get a break."The good news for Hamlin is that -- despite an early wreck after hitting a wet spot in California and despite a power steering failure at Atlanta, his sixth-place finish at Bristol gained him four positions in the Sprint Cup standings, to 15th.
Reid Spencer -- Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service, Bristol TN
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