The lights were bright at the newly lit Chicagoland Speedway this weekend, as the very first night races at the Joliette, Illinois track were a very exciting occasion. After rain settled in on Thursday and rained out Sprint Cup qualifying, the field for the LifeLock.com 400 was set according to the points standings. Not exactly the way any driver wants to start a race. Kinda puts a dark cloud over everything. Yeah, I know, there already was.
Sitting pretty in the Race to the Chase, the Fed Ex Express Toyota rolled off the grid from the 7th starting position. A decent starting place for any race. The closer to the front you are, the better chance you have of getting the lead and keeping it. Unless something goes wrong, bad wrong.
That’s exactly what happened to Denny Hamlin. By Lap 22, he had slipped all the way back to 13th. Hamlin informed the crew that something was wrong. the gauges were dark and switching the ignition boxes wasn’t fixing the problem. So during a competition yellow to check tires on Lap 35, they made a pit stop. Once the field went back green, Denny was running slowly on the apron of the track. He informed the crew that the car keeps shutting off. What they had prayed wouldn’t happen was slapping them in the face.
Then on lap 45, Hamlin came to a stop on the track between turns 3 and 4, bringing out the second caution of the night. The team spent4 laps on pit road replacing the ignition box, then got caught speeding while exiting pit road, putting them in 41st position. But being the class act that he is, Hamlin continued to fight hard for every lap, gathering as many valuable points as possible. He eventually finished 40th which dropped him a staggering 5 positions to 12th place, just 27 points in front of 13th place Clint Bowyer.
It was a damaging blow that will leave the Fed Ex crew fighting to claw their way back to a comfortable mid-way spot in the standings. With the talent of the driver, the knowledge of crew chief Mike Ford and the ability of the pit crew to pound out amazing stops, it is a task they are more than capable of achieving.
The disappointment was visible on Hamlin’s face from the in-car camera shot when the car came to a stop on lap 45. You could see just how shattering the glitch was to the tenacious driver. Hamlin has been rather outspoken about his frame of mind concerning his season so far and this latest obstacle just confounded the issue.
There are a lot of laps to be run in the remaining 7 races until the Race to the Chase begins, and the resolve Hamlin and his crew have shown up to this point will only intensify.
Following a much needed off week, the team will roll into the famed Brickyard of Indianapolis Motor Speedway to redeem themselves and regain valuable points. No doubt there will be a fire in Hamlin’s belly and the competition better watch out.
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