NASCAR Meets Hollywood

Fans can say what they want about NASCAR racing in Southern California, but the drivers love the party scene.
"It's an experience people from North Carolina don't get to experience, so it's definitely fun for me," said Denny Hamlin, referring to the refreshing change of scenery; foothills to palm trees.

Hamlin joined a gang of other NASCAR wheelmen Wednesday night at Hollywood Avalon night club where the drivers could shed their Southern charm and sponsor-friendly sound bites for some mindless conversation and celebrity sightings.

The event was Auto Club Speedway president Gillian Zucker's second-annual Tinseltown-meets-NASCAR party where the track promoter brings a major A-list of stars and drivers together for one night in a club to ultimately give her race weekend optimal exposure.
It's becoming a must-attend event, Zucker said.

"People don't quite understand why we do these parties but last year we had over 50 million media impressions from our party," she said. "That's important because it's very hard to penetrate this market and for people to understand there's a race in town."

Zucker's highlight of the evening was seeing Aaron Eckert, co-star of the latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight.

"He had his face put back together and looked amazing," Zucker said with a smile.
Hamlin, sharing real-estate with the likes of multi-Grammy award winning artist, Pharrell Williams, and Heidi Montag from MTV's The Hills, brought his fashion A-game and was labeled among the partygoers as best dressed driver.

"Yeah I got outside the box a little bit, more than I'm used to," Hamlin said.

The Virginia boy busted out some Salvatore Ferragamo loafers pairing them with a T-shirt sports coat.

"I dressed up more than normal," he added. "I enjoy doing those events. I'd like to do more events like that, but unfortunately we don't have them unless we go to a place like New York City. The celebrities at these parties show the influence NASCAR is starting to have over here on the West Coast."

Mr. Manhattan, Jeff Gordon, was equally trendy and arrived to host the party with backing from Pepsi.

On the list of entertainment was a friendly R/C Car battle between the four-time champion and hip hop lyricist Williams. Apparently Gordon had a Bristol moment and put his plastic piece in the wall before he could get started in the five-lap event.

Williams took the checkered flag and appropriately sprayed the crowd and himself with Pepsi. Although he didn't get a practice lap, Gordon graciously accepted defeat.

"I'm not going to make any excuses, he got me," Gordon said. "We had a fun race and he did a great job. Bringing NASCAR and Hollywood together like that is awesome and Pepsi has a lot of cool things happening this weekend. Things like this will take this event to another level."
Carl Edwards agreed and enjoyed his role as a reporter Wednesday night.

"I got to do a segment for Extra and got to interview Heidi and Spencer [Pratt] from The Hills," Edwards said. "To me this is one of the most fun racetracks to come to. Everyone always bashes the races here but I think it's a pretty good place to race."

FedEx Racing Express Facts - California

RACE INFO:

Event: Pepsi 500

Date/Time: Aug. 31, 2008/8 p.m. EST

Length: 2.0 miles

Shape: Oval

Banking: 14 Degrees

Distance: 250 laps/500 miles

2007 winner: Jimmie Johnson

2007 pole winner: Kurt Busch

EXPRESS NOTES:
Bristol in the Rear View: Denny Hamlin brought the #11 FedEx Freight Toyota home in third place on Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, putting an end to a tumultuous week and, by virtue of a good run, edging ever closer to a spot in the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup. Bristol lived up to its reputation for hard racing but Hamlin and the team wouldn't be denied, fighting through the field after qualifying 21st. With a third place finish, his best since claiming the third spot at Indianapolis Motor Speedway five weeks ago, Hamlin climbs from 12th to 11th in NASCAR Sprint Cup points with just two races left before the Chase cutoff. He currently sits 45 points in front of Clint Bowyer who holds down the 12th and final Chase contender spot.

Hamlin, FedEx Delivering Hybrid Prius in Los Angeles: As part of the 2008 FedEx Racing "Deliver the Drive" program, Denny Hamlin and FedEx will visit the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank on Thursday, Aug. 28 to donate a Toyota Prius hybrid vehicle. The Foodbank is a non-profit, charitable organization and is one of the largest food banks in the United States - supplying enough food for over 500,000 meals each week in Los Angeles County. Hamlin will join a team of Los Angeles-area FedEx employees for a shift in the volunteer kitchen prior to the presentation of the fuel-efficient vehicle. The donation marks the third of four Toyota Prius hybrid vehicles that FedEx is donating throughout the course of the 2008 season. Previous Prius donations have been made in Boston and Indianapolis. (For event information, please contact Jon Mason)

Hamlin at Auto Club Speedway: This weekend will mark Hamlin's sixth career Cup start at the two-mile track in Fontana. On his most recent visit, Hamlin was forced from the Monday-afternoon race early when he hit water seeping through the track on lap 15 of the event and was sent sailing into the turn two wall. Despite making considerable repairs, the damage was done and Hamlin was scored in 41st place. In the fall 2007 race a cut tire under caution late in the race spoiled what was otherwise a promising day for the FedEx team and led to a 19th-place finish. Last February, Hamlin had a very competitive car and ran as high as third place before handling issues caused him to fade late in the race and take the checkered in 11th. In two other starts, Hamlin has posted finishes of 6th and 12th.

Auto Club – JGR 222 & 196: The FedEx team will unload Chassis JGR 222 this weekend at California. This is a new car from the Joe Gibbs Racing stable and this weekend will mark its first start. JGR 196 will serve as the back up and has made four starts this season.

HAMLIN CONVERSATION - AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY:
A top-three finish in Bristol gets you pointed in the right direction again: "Well, the edge isn't off but it felt good to go out there and have a good race - especially at Bristol where we've had trouble finishing and on the heels of a tough race at Michigan. The other teams we are racing for the top-12 all fared well so it doesn't change our outlook at all - we need to go to California and put together another really strong race. California is another opportunity to gain points but we are prepared to go to Richmond with everything on the line. Hopefully we'll be in good shape by then but I can't think of a better track to go to knowing we have to put up a good performance. For this FedEx team, it seems like we run well one week, then struggle the next and that up and down has kept us right on the edge. We need to put some consistent finishes together because that up and down is a tough way through to go through a season - or in our case the second half of the season. The way we see it, the good runs reflect how good we are, and that makes the bad runs that much harder to take and increases our frustration even more. The Chase is so tight that there really isn't room for error anymore - but the Chase also rewards consistency and gives any team that gets on a roll the chance to make some noise. We feel like we can be that team if we get back to running as well as we know we can."

Joey Logano was named the driver of the #20 car this week, are you looking forward to having him as a teammate next season?: "Yes. I am happy for Joey and for everyone at Home Depot and JGR. We all know how talented he is and that he has a bright future ahead of him - I have been fortunate to race with him a couple of times but also talk to the test team at JGR and hear them talk about how good he is and how mature he is on the track. I think Kyle and I are both looking forward to working with him and making this JGR team as strong as possible."

Joe Gibbs Racing.com