Denny Hamlin is looking to become the real Virginia man this weekend, as in the one sweeping the short-track NASCAR Sprint Cup races in that state.
While winning earlier this season at Martinsville Speedway was epic for the Virginia native, taking the victory in Saturday night's Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway would mean even more. After all, Hamlin grew up in the shadow on the 0.75-mile speedway and plans to return to the area with an early race to kick off his new foundation.
Martinsville Speedway is a track where he has a lot of experience in various cars, but Richmond is the one that inspired his dreams of someday making it into NASCAR's elite series.
"Richmond, I mean, that is in the woods of my hometown right there, 15 minutes away," he says. "And so, yeah, I'm going to have a lot of friends and family out there. So everyone knows that this is my Indy, I guess you could say, as far as Tony [Stewart's] concerned.
"So we'll see how it turns out. We always seem to run well there."
Ironically, as Hamlin heads to his hometown area, he does so somewhat in the shadow of both his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. With Kyle Busch off to a hot start, winning seven races in the Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series this season -- including two Cup victories -- and Stewart in high-profile contract talks, Hamlin could get lost in the shuffle.
He's somewhat used to that, especially where Stewart is concerned, but it was Hamlin who handed the team its top points finish during his 2006 rookie year (he was third), and it is Hamlin who is joining Busch in the top five this season (he's fourth in the standings). He's finished no worse than sixth in his last five races and has a top-10 finish in six of the last seven.
Hamlin is the local boy making it big and heading back home this weekend -- yet his name isn't the one grabbing the big headlines this weekend.
Hamlin thinks that is just fine.
He looks around at the media that seemingly underrates his ability and potential -- and uses that to spark his ambition.
"It's just motivation when we don't get the press that I feel like we deserve," he said. "I mean, yeah, Kyle, he's definitely won a couple of races this year. We've won a race. And the last five races we've been the hottest team. I mean, we've never finished out of the top six."
In fact, he says that if everyone is writing about all the other teams, his team members can stay focused and do their jobs without distraction.
"I'm fine with taking a back seat to those guys and showing up on the race track," he says.
Focus is crucial at this level, and Hamlin knows it.
He says that in his first season, he did a good job of avoiding distraction and settling in. In 2007, his sophomore season, that didn't go as well, and he settled for 12th in the standings.
"I think I was going too much for race wins and didn't have the big picture in mind," he says of that season. "And now I've kind of shifted that back over to my goals, and I think it's making me perform better on the race track and giving us the finishes that
we're having."
So he plans to continue business as usual. He's not going to try to become flashy or get caught up in all the hype about his teammates and their affairs.
Hamlin is going to keep his mind on what he is trying to do and accomplish -- and let that speak for itself.
His crew chief, Mike Ford, is also notably quiet -- but obviously on top of his game, and he sees the same qualities in his driver.
"It is good to know that you have someone in there that is strictly performance-motivated," he says.
Hamlin clearly is.
He's also branching out, though, and creating the Denny Hamlin Foundation. To kick that off, he's competing in the Denny Hamlin 175 Late Model race at Southside Speedway Thursday night. He, Busch and Curtis Markham will race in the event to benefit research to fight cystic fibrosis.
Hamlin said he wanted to kick off the foundation at the Richmond track.
"It's the track that I went to every Friday night in the '80s and '90s and watched guys like Eddie Johnson and Bugs Hairfield and Roy Hendrick and all those guys race for so many years," he says. "So it's fitting to have it at that track."
He can't think of anywhere he'd rather be come this Thursday night.
"It's going to be really fun," he says "I've been keeping up with the local racing at Southside and other short tracks I used to race at. So as far as having a track that's your hometown track, I mean, that's it. It's on the street where I grew up. So to go back there and see all of the fans that I used to sit in the stands with is going to be pretty amazing.
"And last year we had a great turnout. I believe it was nearly sold out, if not, it was sold out. And it was the first time in years. And that kind of -- it definitely helps with keeping that track alive and not only that, we're able to raise the money for a good charity as well."
While winning earlier this season at Martinsville Speedway was epic for the Virginia native, taking the victory in Saturday night's Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway would mean even more. After all, Hamlin grew up in the shadow on the 0.75-mile speedway and plans to return to the area with an early race to kick off his new foundation.
Martinsville Speedway is a track where he has a lot of experience in various cars, but Richmond is the one that inspired his dreams of someday making it into NASCAR's elite series.
"Richmond, I mean, that is in the woods of my hometown right there, 15 minutes away," he says. "And so, yeah, I'm going to have a lot of friends and family out there. So everyone knows that this is my Indy, I guess you could say, as far as Tony [Stewart's] concerned.
"So we'll see how it turns out. We always seem to run well there."
Ironically, as Hamlin heads to his hometown area, he does so somewhat in the shadow of both his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. With Kyle Busch off to a hot start, winning seven races in the Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series this season -- including two Cup victories -- and Stewart in high-profile contract talks, Hamlin could get lost in the shuffle.
He's somewhat used to that, especially where Stewart is concerned, but it was Hamlin who handed the team its top points finish during his 2006 rookie year (he was third), and it is Hamlin who is joining Busch in the top five this season (he's fourth in the standings). He's finished no worse than sixth in his last five races and has a top-10 finish in six of the last seven.
Hamlin is the local boy making it big and heading back home this weekend -- yet his name isn't the one grabbing the big headlines this weekend.
Hamlin thinks that is just fine.
He looks around at the media that seemingly underrates his ability and potential -- and uses that to spark his ambition.
"It's just motivation when we don't get the press that I feel like we deserve," he said. "I mean, yeah, Kyle, he's definitely won a couple of races this year. We've won a race. And the last five races we've been the hottest team. I mean, we've never finished out of the top six."
In fact, he says that if everyone is writing about all the other teams, his team members can stay focused and do their jobs without distraction.
"I'm fine with taking a back seat to those guys and showing up on the race track," he says.
Focus is crucial at this level, and Hamlin knows it.
He says that in his first season, he did a good job of avoiding distraction and settling in. In 2007, his sophomore season, that didn't go as well, and he settled for 12th in the standings.
"I think I was going too much for race wins and didn't have the big picture in mind," he says of that season. "And now I've kind of shifted that back over to my goals, and I think it's making me perform better on the race track and giving us the finishes that
we're having."So he plans to continue business as usual. He's not going to try to become flashy or get caught up in all the hype about his teammates and their affairs.
Hamlin is going to keep his mind on what he is trying to do and accomplish -- and let that speak for itself.
His crew chief, Mike Ford, is also notably quiet -- but obviously on top of his game, and he sees the same qualities in his driver.
"It is good to know that you have someone in there that is strictly performance-motivated," he says.
Hamlin clearly is.
He's also branching out, though, and creating the Denny Hamlin Foundation. To kick that off, he's competing in the Denny Hamlin 175 Late Model race at Southside Speedway Thursday night. He, Busch and Curtis Markham will race in the event to benefit research to fight cystic fibrosis.
Hamlin said he wanted to kick off the foundation at the Richmond track.
"It's the track that I went to every Friday night in the '80s and '90s and watched guys like Eddie Johnson and Bugs Hairfield and Roy Hendrick and all those guys race for so many years," he says. "So it's fitting to have it at that track."
He can't think of anywhere he'd rather be come this Thursday night.
"It's going to be really fun," he says "I've been keeping up with the local racing at Southside and other short tracks I used to race at. So as far as having a track that's your hometown track, I mean, that's it. It's on the street where I grew up. So to go back there and see all of the fans that I used to sit in the stands with is going to be pretty amazing.
"And last year we had a great turnout. I believe it was nearly sold out, if not, it was sold out. And it was the first time in years. And that kind of -- it definitely helps with keeping that track alive and not only that, we're able to raise the money for a good charity as well."
Rea White SceneDaily.com
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