Leaving Las Vegas...

Never have three words sounded so sweet, nor the memory of a race been so great to forget. So Sin City didn't exactly try to hide that it wasn't fond of Denny Hamlin. Luck was certainly not on the Chesterfield, VA native's side. My only solace is that hopefully he won big in the casinos while hanging out with his buddies.

Just two laps into the Sam's Town 300, Hamlin found himself spinning out with none other than Brad Keselowski. Irony at its finest. He was able to recover from that debacle, only to be served with a pit road speeding penalty. As if that wasn't bad enough, the No. 20 car sped while serving its pass through penalty for that violation. The result, yet another pass through penalty. Misery indeed loves company.

The frustration mounted and wouldn't you know, the Interstate Batteries machine had a tire going down. Holding his own, Hamlin was handling the situation under the wise council of crew chief Dave Rogers, when the unthinkable happened. Mike Bliss, who's spotter was taking a break in the local casino and being derelict of his important duties, was unable to see the bright green car right in front of him and plowed Hamlin from behind, lifting his wheels off the ground and putting both cars into the wall.

When the dust settled, the flames that engulfed the Toyota holding Denny Hamlin were nothing short of terrifying. Mike Bliss failed to have an explanation for his stupidity and a despondent Hamlin tried to laugh it off, but the disappointment and frustration were evident. And from the appearance of the veteran driver, he was still a bit shaken from the incident. Well, he wasn't alone. That was quite scary and a fate I don't want to see repeated any time soon.

Hamlin rolled his Fed Ex Office Toyota off the grid in 34th starting position for the Shelby 427. When what do you know, new bestie Brad Keselowski found the No. 11 machine once again and caused yet another tangle between the two. I guess there is a drawing magnetism between the GoDaddy.com driver and his Fed Ex nemesis, because the two cars just simply couldn't avoid each other the entire weekend at Vegas.

The rest of the day was just more of the same and while Hamlin did his best to rebound, it just wasn't to be. He finished 22nd, a lap down, but was able to gain one spot in the points standings. His teammate, Kyle Busch, was victorious in his hometown for the first time and was overjoyed, kissing the start/finish line after doing his now signature bow and taking the checkered flag.

With snow back in NC stranding the drivers and their families in Vegas for a while, no doubt there was some celebrating going on amongst the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. Happy for his friend, Hamlin no doubt lifted his glass to honor a hard fought victory for the No. 18 team. But in his mind, Denny Hamlin was celebrating the end to his Las Vegas weekend and thanking his lucky stars he won't have to return to the scene of that fiasco for another twelve months.