Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team endured another up and down race at Richmond International Raceway (RIR) on Saturday night, dominating for much of the race before sliding back to a disappointing 14th-place finish.   Hamlin charged to the point on lap 73 to lead the first of a race-high 148 laps on the evening – using a combination of fearless driving and flawless pit stops to position him for a shot at his first-ever Richmond Cup win.  That momentum, however, was undone during an error-riddled lap 275 pit stop that saw Hamlin and the team drop from first to eighth, killing momentum and ultimately leaving Hamlin fighting for position just as the tempo of the race picked up.


By race end, Hamlin, brakes fading and tires wearing out, fell to 14th place – as frustrating of a result as could have been imagined on top of his experience at RIR one year ago.


“When we got in traffic, we didn't work as well as we needed to,” said Mike Ford, Crew Chief of the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota.  “I don't think we had as good a car as everybody thought or we would have been able to make some of that up, and we didn't.  If you're going to get a bad one (stop), that was the time not to have one.  That was the exact time in the race where people start setting up for the end.  That's when you don't want to give up the track positions at that point in the race -- and we couldn't get it back.  You saw when we got in traffic we didn't really move forward.  If we could run laps, no one could pass you.  With these cars it's so close -- track position is everything.  We couldn't make up any ground.  It ended with a major, major mistake that you couldn't rebound from. We've been in contention to win this race every time we've been here.  You don't take anything out of it other than frustration.  That's about it."


Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammate, Kyle Busch, celebrated his birthday in style on Saturday night – leading the final 48 laps on his way to the win and make his second trip to the Victory Lane at RIR in as many nights.  Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman and Mark Martin rounded out the top five while Hamlin and Busch’s JGR teammate Joey Logano finished 19th.


By virtue of the evening’s results Hamlin climbs to fourth in the Sprint Cup Series points heading to Darlington next weekend.


As it has been in recent years at Richmond International, rain threatened the race before the green flag waved.  An early evening shower soaked the track and the jet dryers had almost completed their assignment by the time the drivers fired the engines and followed the pace car onto the track.  NASCAR started the race under a yellow flag, then waved the yellow and green simultaneously to officially start the race while hoping the on-track activity would dry the high line around the .75-mile track.


After 14 laps under caution, the yellow was lifted and polesitter Brian Vickers led the field into turn one.    The race ran uninterrupted from the green, with Gordon and Hamlin quickly catching and passing Vickers to claim the top-two spots.  On lap 73, Hamlin put a nose in front of Gordon to claim the lead for the first time on the night.  He then opened up a 1.5-second lead as he reached the end of his first fuel window.


Ford called Hamlin onto pit road on lap 95 for four tires, fuel and a small track bar adjustment and the FedEx team worked quick – sending the #11 FedEx Toyota out to cycle through in the lead.


The caution flag flew on lap 115 and Hamlin turned onto pit road for tires, fuel and another track bar adjustment.  With Clint Bowyer only taking two tires, Hamlin lined up second for the restart on lap 120.


Hamlin quickly reclaimed the lead from Bowyer following the restart to continue his run of laps out in front of the pack, with both Kyle and Kurt Busch closing in on his bumper.  A lap 150 caution brought Hamlin into the pits again and, once again, stellar work by the FedEx team had Denny out quickly and he lined up to restart first on lap 154.


As the race approached the halfway point, radar screens up and down pit road were showing an increasing possibility that rain would affect the race before the end.  This placed even more importance on that 200 lap mark – the point at which the race becomes official - and Ford made sure to keep Hamlin up to date on the situation. Through a lap -169 caution, Ford kept Hamlin on the track to ensure he was near the front for the restart and at the halfway point.


Under caution on lap 214, Ford called Hamlin to pit road for four tires and, despite the quick work, two-tire stops by Martin Truex Jr. and Newman had them in front of the #11 for the restart.  As he slowly chased them town, informing the crew he wanted to conserve his brakes as much as possible, Ford reminded him that the threat of rain was real and urged him to get to the front if possible.  Hamlin clearly liked the direction and he wasted no time putting fast lap on top of fast lap, catching the leaders and claiming the lead on 249.  Hamlin, biding his time prior to the communication, clinically worked his way to the front.


The crucial moment of the #11 team’s night came on lap 275, during the evening’s eighth caution.  After a night of a near-perfect stops, two dropped lug nuts delayed Hamlin on pit road and he lost eight spots.   With just over 100 laps to run and with a car that wasn’t handling nearly as well in traffic as out in front, Hamlin had his work cut out for him.


A string of cautions forced Ford to make the “pit” or “don’t pit” call several times before the end.  Two tires under caution on lap 308 had Hamlin restarting sixth with just under 100 laps to go.  Another caution flew on lap 348 and Ford kept Hamlin on the track and off pit road.  He restarted fifth with 52 laps to go but ultimately had little for the cars in front of him.  Lack of track position coupled with fading brakes and tires caused a precipitous slide and Hamlin ultimately took the checkered flag in 14th place.