Hamlin's dream weekend turns into a nightmare

A cut tire ruined what could've been the perfect race
One crewman slammed his fist onto a nicely packaged toolbox sitting behind the No. 11 hauler. Another man simply placed items neatly where they were supposed to be in preparation for loading up. The smoke and smell of rubber that floated above was supposed to be from their driver's car, but instead Clint Bowyer was the one doing donuts.
Denny Hamlin? He was following in brisk walk as his crew pushed his car through the Richmond International Raceway garage, cameras glaring, a large pack of media following.
It wasn't supposed to end this way.
Hamlin wasn't supposed to have that blank stare on his face as local television cameras tried to capture his emotion following Saturday night's Crown Royal 400. They had chased their hometown product all weekend, starting at Thursday night's Late Model race at nearby Southside Speedway, where Hamlin grew up racing. The event was called the Denny Hamlin 175. Proceeds from the race were to travel through the newly created Denny Hamlin Foundation, which the driver kicked off this week.
Things soon afterward began to appear storybook-like. Hamlin was fourth in Cup practice. Hamlin won the pole position for Saturday's race. Hamlin took four tires when the leaders didn't pit and charged past Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick to win Friday night's Nationwide Series race. In Victory Lane, he proclaimed it the biggest win of his career -- in any series. And on Sunday, Hamlin presented a $50,000 check to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation from his Thursday night charitable race.
It was set up to be one of those weekends. They're rare in this era of Cup racing. So rare that folks began scrambling to get the exact date that Jeff Burton led every one of the 300 laps at New Hampshire to win.
That's what Denny Hamlin was on his way to.

Hamlin put on the most dominant performance this season. He put on the most dominant performance since ... Sept. 17, 2000, the date of Burton's wire-to-wire win. By Lap 382 of the scheduled 400-lap event, Hamlin had led 381 of them.
It was also on that lap that his car began to slow, his right-front tire going down. He lost the lead to Dale Earnhardt Jr. with 17 laps to go. Two laps later, he was sixth. Finally, with nine to go, Hamlin's tire gave up. He went high entering Turn 3, slowed, then stopped in Turn 4 to bring out the caution. NASCAR penalized him two laps for deliberately causing a yellow, and Hamlin finished 24th, three laps down.
The cut in Hamlin's tire was a V-shaped gash, slightly bigger than the size of a quarter.
"It's just a bummer deal for him. He drove a flawless race, and he had spectacular pit stops all day," said second-place finisher and teammate Kyle Busch.
Perhaps that's what leaves a greater sting.
Aside from getting passed when his tire went down, Hamlin never lost the lead on the racetrack or in the pits. A.J. Allmendinger led one time for one lap when he stayed out early in the race. But on every pit sequence, partially thanks to Hamlin's well-built lead each green-flag run, his crew got him out first. Remember, this is the same crew -- well, not exactly the same -- that has lost more than one race for Hamlin in the past.
He even said he was just riding around during the race, and when someone would close in, he'd kick it into gear and pull away at his own pace.
"You don't have days like this," said Hamlin, who was cruising in the same car he won with at Martinsville. "Dominating days like this just don't happen. There's just nothing you can say other than it just wasn't meant to be."
So when Hamlin drove into the garage following the race, he turned off the ignition and simply sat there. Collecting his thoughts, he said, trying to justify the final half hour of an otherwise perfect weekend.
That, for Hamlin and most everyone else who watched, was impossible.

By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM