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FedEx Racing Express Facts - DaytonaRACE INFO: EXPRESS NOTES: Hamlin, FedEx Racing Soaked at New Hampshire: When Denny Hamlin pulled the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota off of pit road on lap 278, both the driver and team thought they had done exactly enough win the Lennox Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Though not leading the race, the #11 lined up as the first car off pit road by virtue of a stop for 2.8-seconds worth of fuel and would restart as the first car certain to have enough fuel to make the end of the scheduled 301-lap race. Unfortunately, while the team had expertly balanced performance, track position, pit stops and fuel mileage throughout the day, they were unable to account for Mother Nature. When the clouds opened on lap 284 to end the race, Hamlin and the team were forced to settle for a frustrating eighth-place finish - a good result for a team looking to solidify a place in the top-ten, but not at all indicative of just how well the team performed. Hamlin's top-ten finish sees him climb to seventh in the points through seventeen races. Hamlin at Daytona: This will be Hamlin's sixth career Cup start at Daytona International Speedway and 97th Cup start overall. In short, Hamlin's Daytona experience ranges from the very good to the not so good. In addition to a career-launching win at the Bud Shootout in 2006, Hamlin won a Gatorade Duel at Daytona to kick off the 2008 season. He then led 32 laps in the 2008 Daytona 500 before contact on pit road caused enough damage to severely alter the aerodynamics on the car and relegate the #11 team to a 17th-place finish on a day when the #11 FedEx Camry had looked to be one of the cars to beat. On the flip side, an incident in the summer race of 2007 forced Hamlin to the garage after only 14 laps and, after extensive repair; he would finish a very disappointing 43rd. In three additional starts at Daytona, Hamlin has qualified in the top-ten on two occasions but has been unable to crack the top-ten. Daytona International Speedway Chassis: JGR 200 and 158: This will be the first start for chassis 200. It served as the back up for the Spring race at Talladega but has been used since. Chassis 158 served as a back up on six occasions during the 2007 season before being rebuilt for use on superspeedways. HAMLIN CONVERSATION - DAYTONA: Daytona has been a mixed bag for this team but you've shown the ability to run up front there. How much of the race can you control from the drivers seat? "To be honest all you can do is bring a good car, try to make some friends and put yourself in position to win at the end - but beyond that there is an awful lot of luck involved. There is so much that is out of your hands when it comes to restrictor plate racing but these JGR cars have been so good and I know we are all excited about the car we are taking to the track this weekend. The guys back in the fab shop are building great cars and we are getting awesome power from the JGR engine shop so I have the luxury of knowing I am getting into really good equipment before we even get to the track. We had a good run going at Daytona in the 500 but caught a bad break on pit road but that gives us some confidence going back and I know I am always learning how to manage these plate races - I've done it in the non-points races here so it's time to show that this team can do it when we have points on the line." Counting this weekend, you are looking at nine races left before the Chase cutoff. Are you where you want to be?: "I think we are a little off where we expected to be at this point in the season on account of some off days and some bad luck. And that is what got us at New Hampshire also. We ran a good race, made the calls to put us in position to get a really good result and then the rain came. So we are all thinking that at some point the breaks will come and they will be in our favor. We just really need to get back to running consistently - we like to think that's been a trademark of this team. Over the past couple of seasons it seemed like even if we weren't winning races, we were always competitive and we need to get back to that. We won at Martinsville and were running pretty good but then got stung by that race at Richmond where we had a dominating race going - and we just haven't had much luck since. That's kept us from hitting our stride and putting up consistent races week in and week out but I have to believe it's just a phase and our luck will turn. It would nice to get in to a good rhythm here, get some momentum going and lock up a place in the Chase." |
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