Joe Gibbs Racing

This weekend will mark Hamlin's eighth Cup start at Daytona International and his 133rd career Cup start. Last summer, Hamlin led six laps and showed the speed and handling necessary to contend for the win before late-race incidents on lap 136 and lap 158 relegated the FedEx team to a 26th-place finish. Scant consolation considering the quality of the #11 FedEx Toyota. Hamlin followed up last summer's 26th place finish with another 26th-place finish this spring in the 2009 Daytona 500. The team posted a best-ever finish in the 500 in 2008, when Hamlin led 32 laps and had one of the more dominant cars in the field. Unfortunately, contact suffered on pit road during a lap 120 stop required repair and adversely affected the handle on the #11 FedEx Camry. Despite making his way back into the pack for the finish, his position in the draft left him vulnerable to the string of incidents before the end and he settled for a 17th place finish. In July of 2007, Hamlin led ten laps early in the race before he found then teammate Tony Stewart in his rearview mirror on lap 15. The two made contact with each other resulting in substantial damage to both cars. After a significant amount of time was spent in the garage repairing the car, the #11 team was able to get Hamlin back on the track 60 laps down to the leaders and finished the race running 43rd. The #11 team posted a best-ever July race performance in the summer of 2006, when Hamlin raced to a 17th-place finish. On a night when the team ran through myriad changes to help the handle on the #11 car, Hamlin was able to avoid the incidents that would plague him in coming years.