Coca-Cola 600 Review

Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing

This week: Hamlin has no wins, no top-five finishes and three top-10s in five starts at Lowe's. He was ninth in last year's 600 and 20th in the October race. "This is a fast track that has been made faster over the past couple of years, so there are no laps off, no taking it easy," Hamlin said. "You can get into trouble in a hurry if you lose concentration here, so in that sense 600 miles can be pretty grueling. In the same way, that 600 miles takes a lot out of you physically. I noticed a huge change last year in this race when I came into it in much better shape. I feel even better this year, so I don't expect it to be an issue. The biggest challenge of going 600 miles is on the crew to prepare a car that can last the duration while dealing with the change in conditions over the course of the race. You have to build a lot of adjustability into the car or you'll end up chasing the track, and that can make a long day even that much longer. This FedEx team has always been really good at making sure we have room to work on the car, and that's the way you need to approach this race — maybe more so than any other race during the season."

Last week: Hamlin was 23rd in the All-Star race, so it's a good thing for him it doesn't count in the Cup standings. "This is definitely experimental 'All-Star only' racing," Hamlin said. "We came out here with our guns loaded, and unfortunately our gun went off a little bit before the end of the race. It just wasn't enough. We knew this engine wasn't going to go 500 miles. It was built for just a few more laps past 100 and it just didn't make it. This is the race to try some things like this, to let the guys in the engine shop pull out some new stuff and see how it runs. They are the best in the business, and we've seen how good the engines have been this season. I know we'll be fine next weekend."

Etc.: Hamlin said the All-Star Race was merely a warmup for the 600. "It is kind of like the prelude, I guess you can say, to the big race next weekend," he said. "It's exciting for us because we haven't had much success in the All-Star Race the last couple of years we've been in it. ... We usually race well in the 600. It seems like we learn more this weekend than what a lot of guys do."