FedEx Racing Express Facts - Dover

DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY RACE INFO:
Event: Autism Speaks 400
Date/Time: June 1, 2008/ 2:30 p.m. EST
Length: 1.0 miles
Shape: Quad-Oval
Banking: 24 degrees
Distance: 400 laps/400 miles
2007 winner: Martin Truex Jr.
2007 pole winner: Ryan Newman

EXPRESS NOTES:

Hamlin, FedEx Deflated at Lowe's: On a night when Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team fought handling, track position and freak damage during a restart stack up, it took a flat tire with two laps to ultimately force them out of contention. Though not leading the race and like his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart, who also lost a tire and had to pit late in the race, Hamlin was on his way to a top-ten run when he was forced to pit on lap 398. It was a cruel twist for a team that worked to repair substantial front-end damage to Hamlin's #11 FedEx Freight Camry suffered during the restart on lap 307. The 24th-place finish keeps Hamlin in fourth place in the points standings through 12 races - the same position he held at this point in the 2007 season.

Hamlin at Dover International Raceway: This weekend will mark Hamlin's fifth career Sprint Cup start at the Monster Mile and he'll be looking to return to a streak of top-ten finishes that was interrupted by a DNF in the fall race last season. Hamlin had led 61 laps, and appeared set to challenge for a win, before a lap 308 incident with Kyle Petty ended his race early. In two previous June races at Dover, Hamlin recorded finishes of fourth and 11th, respectively.

Autism Speaks 400 Chassis JGR 189 and 204: Chassis 189 will carry the #11 FedEx Kinko's livery this weekend. This will be the third start of the season for this car, including a 23rd-place finish in the non-points All-Star race. This car debuted at Atlanta where Hamlin qualified 22nd and finished 15th. It then finished fifth at Texas. 204 will serve as the backup this weekend. Hamlin drove it to a ninth place finish at Las Vegas in its sole start of the 2008 season.

HAMLIN CONVERSATION - DOVER INTERNATIONAL:

You are a third of the way through the season now. How do you feel about the #11 team's season so far?:
"Given the fact that we feel we missed some opportunities to win races or finish better than we did, to still be sitting in fourth is a good place to be. It was great to get a win at Martinsville but more important is the fact that we've been strong at all of the races, on all of the different types of tracks. But we know with as competitive as this sport is, there is no time to rest on what we've done. You need to improve as much as the other teams or you get left behind. We know we left something on the table at Bristol where we had fuel pickup problems, at California where we hit water on the track and at Richmond where we had a tire go down. It's just freak things that go wrong but it's a part of this sport so there is no use dwelling on it. The fact that we've had race-winning cars gives us a lot of confidence moving forward - we are hoping to hit our stride with ten races to go."

In the June race at Dover last year it really looked like your comfort level at the track improved significantly - what clicked?:
"A lot of it was having some experience to rely on going to that track. Nothing prepares you more than some track time for a place like Dover. I know it helped me not only on the track, but also to communicate what the car was doing back to the crew. Racing at Dover is unique and really demanding so knowing what to expect and how to manage both the physical and mental part of the race is really important. It's an easy place to get in trouble and once you are in trouble, it's a place that can end your day in a hurry."

A year ago the teams were facing the daunting prospect of taking the COT to Dover for the first time. With a full year of racing since, how do expect the car to perform?:
"We, along with every team in the garage, have learned a lot about this car in the last year and have clearly already made big gains. It's a much better car now, but unlike the old car there just isn't as much that we can do with it. The tolerances of this car are so much smaller and NASCAR has done that on purpose, to keep the cars on a more level field. We are finding ways to make gains but this car punches a huge hole in the air and its proven pretty hard to pass and it's getting harder and harder to pass. This is a track where we know it's hard to pass no matter what - in the new or old car. You really have to work on someone to pass them here and it usually takes a couple of laps to get by someone here - to see where there is an opening. All we can do is bring the best we have and see how it performs when we get onto the track Friday. From there, we're working to make it better with each lap."