Denny Hamlin started 20th by virute of owners points in the EZ Go 200 NCTS Race on Saturday at Atlanta Motorspeedway. By time the the checkered flag waved, Hamlin finished third and had the best seat in the house for an exciting finish that saw first-time truck series winner Ryan Newman over take teammate Ron Hornaday to give team owner Kevin Harvick a one-two finish.
After qualifying was rained out on Friday afternoon - for the tenth time during this 2008 season - the starting grid was set by points and Denny Hamlin lined up the #11 FedEx Express Camry in the eleventh spot. At a track where he has admittedly struggled on occasion, Hamlin was careful in his approach from the start. As he worked to find the groove that suited the #11 car, the first caution flew and Hamlin was scored in the tenth spot.
He restarted tenth on lap six and then pushed the #11 car forward, grabbing seventh place by lap 25. The caution flag flew again on lap 34 and having been informed by Hamlin that the car was tight through the center of the turn, crew chief Mike Ford called his driver onto pit road for four tires, fuel and both air and wedge adjustments. The crew worked quick and sent Hamlin out to restart eighth on lap 37.
Through a quick green-flag stop Hamlin worked his way into seventh place but also was on the radio letting the #11 crew know that the handling on the car was going away quickly. The crew was up to the challenge and under caution on lap 109 the team made only a slight track bar adjustment and sent Hamlin out to restart seventh on lap 114. Another caution meant another spot for the team and as the race neared the halfway point, Hamlin informed the team that he was "as loose I have been all day." An extended green flag run brought the team to green flag stops on lap 178 and Hamlin catapulted into the fourth spot before turning onto pit road on lap 184.
Once again the team worked very quickly and sent Hamlin out to claim the fourth position and he wasted little time pulling up to the bumper of Kurt Busch in third place. Back on pit road on lap 209, the crew changed four tires and made another wedge adjustment while gaining a spot and sending Hamlin out to restart third behind Busch and Kenseth. The trio pulled away from the field and caught lapped traffic by lap 239 and, as the crew worked on fuel strategy for the final one hundred laps, Ford asked Hamlin to conserve fuel wherever possible. He did just that and held down the third spot until the caution flew on lap 253.
In what was the key moment of the race, the #11 crew went to work on pit road, flying through a four-tire stop and making a wedge adjustment before sending Hamlin out in the lead. Hamlin, now enjoying the clean air out front, checked out from the field and opened up a two second lead over Kenseth by lap 275. A caution on lap 288 brought Hamlin to pit road for tires and the team once again worked quick to hold onto the top spot for the restart on lap 294. Hamlin managed the restart well and again pulled out to a substantial lead, with the #11 as solid as it had been all race but while he would have liked to run to the end, the caution flag was inevitable and flew again on lap 299. Hamlin would hold onto the lead until the second to last restart on lap 310 when Edwards claimed the lead and ultimately the win.
When the ninth caution of Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway flew, Denny Hamlin knew he had an enormous challenge ahead of him. Despite leading the previous 56 laps, and having arguably the strongest car on the long run throughout the afternoon, Hamlin had struggled with the car on restarts throughout the race.
From that point, and with 20 laps to run before the end, Hamlin would be forced to restart the field with Carl Edwards tight on his rear bumper. As the green flag waved, a slight tire spin on the #11 FedEx Express Camry gave Edwards the opening he was looking for to make the pass and there was little Hamlin could do to catch the #99 once he was enjoying the clean air out front. Through one last caution, Hamlin tried to catch Edwards but found himself under pressure from a streaking Jimmie Johnson. Though Johnson's move broke Hamlin loose in turn three, Hamlin collected the car and brought home an impressive third-place finish.
"This FedEx team gave me the best car they’ve ever given me here," said Hamlin. "They gave me an opportunity to win at Atlanta and this is a place where we've had our struggles. My pit crew did awesome. We definitely had a car that could’ve won the race. We just didn’t like those cautions because we couldn’t get going on the restarts. Our car was a long-run car and that hurt us on restarts so when we had that debris caution with about 30 to go, it just killed us. We could not just get going on the restarts. We could not take off. We got beat today.”
Following the race, Hamlin talked through the final thirty laps;
"We struggled to get going on the restarts but we were still okay. The #99 (Carl Edwards) was coming. I think I was in the middle of the track versus going high or low and he hit us. When he did, it knocked us down the race track. He chose what lane he wanted to be in when he hit us. Once you get the guy on the outside on the restart, it's over. That second groove is really, really good for a few laps. Once he knocked us down to the bottom right there, it was over with. We knew -- we conceded that. The only way to do it was to do it back to him. But, our car would not take off. It would not take off at all."
For Hamlin, the result marks his best ever finish at Atlanta and a much needed top-three finish to follow up a fifth-place run at Martinsville last weekend. Leaving Atlanta and heading to Texas for the start of the three-race run up to the end of the season, Hamlin remains in 11th place and now trails Dale Earnhardt Jr. in tenth by only six points in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings.
Carl Edwards held on the for the win Sunday but the late-race charge up to second by Jimmie Johnson sees the driver of the #48 maintain a healthy points lead going to Texas. Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch joined Hamlin in filling out the top-five. Hamlin and Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart finished 17th.
The Chase continues this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, site of Hamlin's Cup debut in Nov. of 2005. This weekend will mark Hamlin's seventh start at Texas Motor Speedway and 113th career Cup start. Texas is a track that has been very good to Hamlin and the #11 FedEx team since the Chesterfield Va. native was presented as the full-time driver of the #11 car in Nov. of 2005. In only his fifth career Cup start, he piloted the #11 FedEx Chevy to a seventh-place finish. Hamlin has continued to perform well since, recording a fourth-place finish in the spring race last season, and posting a tenth-place finish in the 2006 edition of the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Despite going a lap down in the spring 2007 event at TMS, Hamlin and team rallied back for a ninth-place finish.
Last fall, Hamlin led 45 laps and battled for the lead with Matt Kenseth late in the race before making contact with the outside wall. Damage to the #11 forced Hamlin to the garage for repair and he would ultimately finish 29th - a result that didn't do justice to the strength of the car or the effort by the team that day. This spring Hamlin posted a fifth-place finish at Texas, scoring his fourth top-ten finish at the 1.5-mile track to date.
Texas Motor Speedway Chassis – JGR 204 & 196: The FedEx team will unload Chassis JGR 204 this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, one week after it ran so well in Atlanta. This car had one previous Cup start before Atlanta, qualifying 29th and finishing ninth at Las Vegas in March. It also has served as the backup on six occasions this season. JGR 196 is the backup and has made four starts this season - posting top-ten finishes at Darlington and Pocono
HAMLIN CONVERSATION - TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
In as much as Atlanta was an Achilles heel for this team before last weekend, Texas has been a very good track for you and the FedEx team - can you explain why? "They are similar in that they are both banked, fast intermediates but the difference really comes in the surface and setting up your car to handle all that it throws at you. Atlanta has more grip and a little more room to move. Texas is tighter but if you can get your car working you can always pass at Texas so you see some good racing. It seems that just when you get comfortable at Texas is can bite you a little so you really need to be patient more than anything. I found some trouble there last season and it was just a case of trying to race a little too hard at the wrong time and we suffered for it. I feel I have a good sense of what it takes to be competitive at Texas and I have had some awesome cars there."
Top-five runs at Martinsville and Atlanta has you on a little roll - can you keep up this momentum?: "We're going to try for sure. Coming to Texas is a good thing for this team and then it's on to Phoenix where we've been pretty good in the past so we'd like to close out this season not only with some good results, but really consistent runs. If we leave Homestead knowing that despite the way the Chase played out for us, we pulled together and rattled off a string of good races before the end it will make the off season that much better - and certainly give us something to look forward to."
Rain forced Joey Logano to miss another qualifying opportunity last weekend in Atlanta so he'll try again in Texas - any advice for your teammate?: "Man I feel terrible for Joey because I know how much he wants to race and how I would feel if I was in his shoes. There is nothing worse than having to sit one out when all you want to do is race. He's doing a great job of keeping his head up and I know he he'll be ready to go when the chance to race that #02 comes - hopefully it's this weekend."
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