Sunday’s Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Penn. ended almost exactly at the moment it began for Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team.  As the green flag waved to start the race and the 43-car field barreled down the front stretch and into turn one, Hamlin had to pull out of line as he lost fuel pressure and, therefore, the power behind his FedEx Ground Toyota Camry.


After a push to the garage, it was discovered that a fuel pump failure was the culprit, but it was only after the change was made and Hamlin had returned to the track that the extent of the damage from the pump failure was truly realized.  Once again, Hamlin lost fuel pressure and was forced to return to the garage.  The crew made additional repairs and sent Hamlin out in 43rd place, 22 laps down to the leader with no real recourse but to run out the 200-lap race from the back.  By the end, Hamlin had worked his way up to 38th place through attrition on the track but the team used the laps to run through a number of adjustments in hopes they could hit on something ahead of a return to the track in eight weeks.


“It’s unacceptable,” said Crew Chief Mike Ford. “We had a fuel pump lock up and that broke a couple of other pieces in the system.  It’s one of those things that‘s difficult to troubleshoot in a short amount of time.  What started it was having the fuel pump lock up.  It was a parts failure.”


Tony Stewart stretched his fuel load to the absolute maximum Sunday, avoiding a last stop that would have forced to him to give up the lead, to claim the win.  Carl Edwards, David Reutimann, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman filled out the top-five.


Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates didn’t suffer the on-track fate that burdened the #11 team, but both ultimately did succumb to fuel mileage at the end of the 500-mile event.  Both Kyle Busch and Joey Logano were forced to pit late in the race for fuel and, as other teams squeezed enough miles to make the end, the pair settled for 22nd and 23rd place finishes, respectively.


The 38th-place finish sees Hamlin drop from seventh to 12th in the standings heading to Michigan International Speedway next weekend.


Despite the early issues that derailed what was shaping up to be a competitive run, the #11 team made the most of the situation by working through myriad changes as the laps counted down.  Though they would have much preferred racing for a win, with a return to Pocono in August falling during the run-up to Chase for the Sprint Cup qualification, the team recognized the rare opportunity to spend time on the track.  All told, the team made several stops in effort to determine handling characteristics of the car after changes and how the car performed over the course of the race. 


The will certainly put what they learned to use ahead of the return to Pocono, but will first look to get pointed in the right direction as they head into the summer stretch that includes stops at big tracks like Michigan, Indy and Daytona as well  as road course stops at Sonoma and Watkins Glen.