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Hamlin, FedEx Racing Fourteenth at Michigan InternationalFuel Mileage and Handling Frustrate #11 Team at MIS
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As many had predicted in the week leading up to the LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway, the 200-lap race was ultimately decided by who was getting the best fuel mileage. For Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Freight Camry an unfortunate string of events down the stretch undid a fuel mileage strategy that looked to have made up for an ill-handing car - and the team was relegated to a disappointing 14th-place finish.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. coasted across the finish line on fumes, winning the race and the fuel battle. It was Earnhardt’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup win in his last 76 attempts. Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs racing teammates Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch finished fifth and 13th, respectively on the day. Busch continues to lead the NASCAR points – he is followed by Jeff Burton, Earnhardt, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Hamlin.
Crew Chief Mike Ford made the fuel mileage call on lap 155 and pitted Hamlin for what the team hoped would be the last time on the day. To make the end of the 200-mile race, Hamlin and team would need the fuel conserving aid offered by a number of caution laps or to run the final 45 laps with better mileage than they had recorded all day. Little did Ford or Hamlin know that a yellow on lap 198 - sending the race into a green-white-checkered finish - would force the team to pit on lap 199 for fuel and two tires because they simply couldn't make the additional laps.
Hamlin was running in 11th place when he was forced to pit on lap 199 and had any chance of gaining significant positions ended when the field was unable to complete the green white checkered finish. He brought the #11 FedEx Camry home in 14th place to end an extremely frustrating day behind the wheel of a very loose car. The result sees Hamlin drop one spot in NASCAR Sprint Cup points by virtue of his finish – he is now in sixth place while teammate Kyle Busch who came home in 13th still leads the year-long points battle.
Hamlin battled a loose car all afternoon making changes on each pit stop to try to overcome a loose car that progressively fell back through the field after starting from the fifth spot on the starting grid.
"The FedEx Freight Toyota was loose all afternoon, all day,” shrugged Hamlin. “Throughout the race we continued to make changes - the car got better but we never really got where we wanted to be. The FedEx crew gave me great pit stops all afternoon - they kept me in the race for a long time.”
Prior to the third pit stop of the afternoon, Hamlin who was nearly a lap down before the yellow flew, was advised to stayed out to lead lap 94 by Ford, by doing so Hamlin picked-up five valuable NASCAR Sprint Cup points before making his stop.
The FedEx Express team then gambled and pitted on lap 155 trying to extend their fuel mileage to the end. It wasn’t to be though. Even through conservation, hoping to go 200 laps, the team had zero chance of completing 203 laps.
“We tried to play the fuel mileage game at the end of the race (pitting on lap 155) but with the green/white checkered we just couldn't make it the entire distance so we had to pit on lap 199,” grinned Hamlin. “It was the only thing we could do to try to improve our position. We would have picked up positions if the yellow hadn't come out at the end – we might have had a chance of going 200 laps, but 203 – no way. Everyone on the FedEx Freight team and Joe Gibbs racing worked hard today - we just didn't get the results we wanted. We had great Toyota power but unfortunately couldn't use it like we would have liked to, we were so loose through the corners I couldn’t put the pedal down."
The Sprint Cup continues next weekend when the series visits Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California for the first road course event of the 2008 season.