Denny Hamlin: Express Facts - Martinsville Speedway

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DENNY HAMLIN IN #11 CAR AT MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY: JGR Busch Series driver Denny Hamlin stays in the seat of the #11 FedEx Freight Chevrolet for the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway this weekend. It will be his third start in the #11 FedEx Monte Carlo, third career NASCAR Nextel Cup start, and his first Cup race at Martinsville. Hamlin will stay in the seat of the #11 through the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Oct. 30.

MARTINSVILLE HOMECOMING FOR HAMLIN: Hamlin considers Martinsville Speedway a home track of sorts. The Richmond, Va. native honed his skills at short tracks throughout Virginia and has made several visits to Martinsville, competing in the annual fall Late Model competition at the track on five occasions. Hamlin’s best result at the track came in the 2004 Bailey’s 300 when he finished third after qualifying second. In 2003, Hamlin won the pole at the Taco Bell 300 and finished 10th. In addition, Hamlin recorded finishes of seventh (2002), 12th (2001) and 15th (2001). Hamlin’s Martinsville experience came through during testing at the half-mile track two weeks ago he posted a timed lap 19.42 seconds in qualifying trim. That time is almost .10 of a second faster than the qualifying track record set by Ryan Newman in 2004.

MARTINSVILLE TO MEMPHIS – HAMLIN PULLS DOUBLE DUTY THIS WEEKEND: Hamlin will be behind the wheel of two cars at two tracks this weekend, driving both the #11FedEx Cup entry in Martinsville and #20 Rockwell Automation Busch Series car in the Sam’s Town 250 at Memphis Motorsports Park. Hamlin will be in Martinsville for practice and qualifying Friday, JGR driver Aric Almirola will qualify the #20 for the Busch race in his place. Hamlin will fly to Memphis Saturday for the Busch race, returning after the race for the Subway 500 on Sunday afternoon.

CHASSIS NO. JGR 105: The Subway 500 will be the third start of the season for this car. Jason Leffler drove this car to a 12th-place finish in the Advance Auto Parts 500 at Martinsville on April 10th and also drove this car at Phoenix later that month, recording a 29th place finish after getting caught up in a lap-11 accident. The back up car for Martinsville is JGR 44.

HAMLIN’S #11 HISTORY: Despite being his first run in the #11 FedEx Monte Carlo, Hamlin’s history with the #11 dates back to 1997 – to his debut in the NASCAR Mini-Stock series at Southside and Langley Speedways. Denny’s car that year, a white Ford Probe sporting the #11. Hamlin started 34 races between the two series, recording eleven poles and eleven wins on his way to becoming the Mini-Stock Track Champion at Langley, and the Limited Dash Champion at Southside. Hamlin also was named Mini-Stock “Rookie of the Year” at both tracks.

POINTS RACE: Following Hamlin’s 8th-place finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last weekend, the FedEx Team remains in 35th place in owners points and currently sits 94 points out of 34th place. For making up the most places on his way to his 8th place finish in Charlotte, Hamlin was awarded the USG Improving the Finish award.

HAMLIN IN 2005: In addition to recent Cup starts, Hamlin has run the full 2005 Busch Series schedule in the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing/Rockwell Automation Chevrolet – recording one top-five and nine top-ten finishes to date. With four races remaining, Hamlin sits in fifth place in the Busch series standings.

PAINT SCHEME: The #11 FedEx Chevy Monte Carlo will sport the FedEx Freight paint scheme at Martinsville, which is one of four it will display in 2005 representing four of the FedEx operating companies; FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight and FedEx Kinko’s. The Subway 500 marks the sixth time the FedEx Freight scheme will run in 2005.

DENNY HAMLIN ON MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY:
"Martinsville is a short track that fits my driving style. I grew up on short tracks, right around Martinsville actually, and I enjoy it because short track racing required a different style of driving, you can be a little more aggressive. With the higher horsepower of the Cup cars it should make it a little easier to pass

"I really think my experience will help us here and I think that experience came through in the test where we were really competitive. We left the test with a great car and with some more time in the seat here during practice and qualifying, there is no reason we can’t post a top-ten.”