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Denny Hamlin Fontana Race Report

Tuesday, 13 October 2009 18:23

It was a day that started with much hope and promise, with Denny Hamlin in the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota starting from the pole and leading the first ten laps at Auto Club Speedway, but ended agonizingly early when Hamlin - leading on a lap 190 restart - clipped the left rear of his car on Juan Pablo Montoya's car and spun into the end of the infield pit wall. The wreck ended Hamlin's day and put a severe dent in his 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship aspirations.

After parking the car for the afternoon, Hamlin took blame for the accident that ended what had been a very good run for the FedEx Ground team.

"I made a rookie mistake," said Hamlin. "I thought I was clear and misjudged it. I've got to apologize to the team. They deserve better than that. They got me out front. It was a bad mistake."

Kansas Race Preview

Thursday, 01 October 2009 20:13

EXPRESS NOTES:
Hamlin, FedEx Racing Struggle at Dover: If Dover International has been an Achilles heel for Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team in the past, Sunday's Sprint Cup race at the "Monster Mile" might just be chalked up as a stubbed toe. Hamlin fought handling issues all race long and, despite best efforts of driver and crew alike, he was never able to challenge his fellow Chase contenders as he drove the FedEx Ground Camry to a 22nd place finish in the AAA 400. The result sees Hamlin drop from third to sixth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings heading to Kansas. He currently trails leader Mark Martin by 108 points and sits only two points behind Tony Stewart in fifth.

Hamlin at Kansas Speedway - Back Where it All Began: This weekend will mark Denny Hamlin's fifth Cup start at Kansas Speedway, his 144th career Cup start, and a return to the site of Hamlin's Cup Series debut four years ago this weekend. Through three Chase starts at Kansas, Hamlin has yet to finish in the top-ten but those finishes aren't necessarily indicative of overall performance. Last season, despite starting deep in the field, the FedEx team made continual gains on the car but never found the exact balance they needed to compete with the leaders. They did, however, fight their way forward from 30th place into the top-ten with just over 30 laps before taking the checkered flag in 11th place. In 2007, Hamlin had a promising run derailed when collected in a lap-184 wreck.

Denny Hamlin Nationwide Dover Recap

Sunday, 27 September 2009 17:23

Denny Hamlin had another strong NASCAR Nationwide Series run going in the No. 20 Doosan Infracore Toyota at the Dover International Speedway on Saturday. However, late race contact by the No. 88 of Brad Keselowski relegated Hamlin to a 27th place finish that was not indicative of how strong his car was at the end of the Dover 200. After qualifying fourth during the morning time trials, Hamlin had to fight a "loose" condition for the first half of the race. Crew chief Dave Rogers made the necessary adjustments to "tighten" up the chassis for Hamlin and over the final 50 laps the No. 20 was one of the two fastest cars on the track. With nine laps to go, and a shot at victory, the rear bumper of Hamlin's No. 20 was tapped by Keselowski while coming off Turn 2, sending him into the inside retaining wall. This ended Hamlin's bid for three Nationwide Series wins at Dover.

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