Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team rolled the dice on Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway – using pit road strategy to score an impressive sixth-place finish in the Subway Fresh Fit 500. With ten laps to go and the race under caution, Crew Chief Mike Ford called for two tires only, and Hamlin lined up the #11 FedEx Office/March for Babies Toyota in fourth place for the restart. Hamlin then did his best to hang on as the competitors on four fresh tires closed in, ultimately bringing the car home in sixth place on a night that saw Ford and the entire crew shine throughout. The result, Hamlin’s fourth top-ten finish of the season, moves him up one spot to fifth in the Sprint Cup standings heading to Talladega.
Hamlin at Talladega Superspeedway
This weekend will mark Denny Hamlin's seventh Cup start at Talladega and his 124th career Cup start. Recent races at the 2.66-mile superspeedway have seen the #11 team substantially raise their game. Last fall, Hamlin charged to the point and had led nine laps before his right front tire went down and sent the #11 FedEx Toyota careening into the turn two wall. The impact forced Hamlin from the race and gave the #11 team a first DNF at Talladega. Before bowing out early last fall, the FedEx team had posted back-to-back top-five finishes. Hamlin's #11 was the class of the field in April of 2008 as the FedEx car showed the ability to pull up to the bumper of seemingly any car on the track then, regardless of where they sat in the pack, push them all the way to the front. A late wreck shuffled the field with 15-laps to go and Hamlin was forced to drive forward from 20th place before finishing third. In the fall of 2007 Hamlin led 40 laps before finishing fourth. In the spring of 2007, Hamlin led 48 laps during the middle portion of the race but, as the action picked up and the cautions started flying, he was forced to pit for fuel and settle for a disappointing 21st-place finish. In his first two Cup starts at Talladega, Hamlin recorded 21st and 22nd place finishes while leading one lap in each race.
FedEx National LTL Service Center OFL “Along for the Ride” in Talladega
FedEx National LTL Service Center, OFL, located in Orlando, FL will be featured on the wingcaps of the #11 FedEx Office Toyota this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. OFL was chosen as the Southern Region Center of the Year, for achieving operational excellence.
Talladega Superspeedway Chassis – JGR 233 & 200
The #11 FedEx team will unload JGR 233 this weekend at Talladega This car finished 26th in the 2009 Daytona 500 and posted two top-five finishes 2008 (Indianapolis and Fontana). JGR 200 will serve as the backup this weekend. This car has made one previous start, finishing 26th at Daytona in July of 2008.
HAMLIN CONVERSATION - TALLADEGA
You had a pretty big hit at Talladega last fall – Is it easy to put that behind you coming back here or is it top of mind still?
“I really don’t think about it anymore. It was a big hit, the biggest of my career, and you don’t forget about that kind of incident but I certainly won’t let it affect me when I go back out there. It was really out of my hands – all I could do was hold on so there wasn’t something I could point to and say ‘I should have done this or that differently and it might not have happened.’ With as many races as we run in a season and as fast as we put races behind us and move onto the next, there isn’t much time to worry about what’s happened in the past.”
The JGR superspeedway package has really come on strong over the past two years – can you speak to that improvement?
“The guys at the shop, on the three teams and everyone at Toyota have really pushed the progress of our superspeedway package and it’s showing each time we get to one of these big tracks. When I first raced in the Cup series this was an area where I know I needed to improve and it’s been a big help for me that as I’ve grown more comfortable on the superspeedways that the JGR cars are getting better and better as well. We’ve gone from being really competitive to there being times when the three JGR cars were out in front together and that’s thanks to all of the work being done to improve our package.”
Eight races in to the season – How do you rate your season so far?
I think we’re happy with how we are running but we’re not content – we know we need to improve to keep pace. We’ve had some good runs and would like a win to show for it but we’ve come close and I think it’s just a matter of time until we get one. We’re into the top five now and we need to keep working at it, keep making steps up, because we know we need to if we want be running for a championship at the end of the season.”
|
