For the second consecutive weekend, Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team suffered through a frustrating and points-robbing race. Hamlin, an early favorite heading into the weekend event at Pocono Raceway, suffered a fuel pump problem as the field took the green and roared toward turn one. The failure sent Hamlin immediately to the garage where the part was changed, but after returning to the track and experiecing a similar problem, Hamlin was forced back to the garage where the ensuing repairs put him 22 laps down to the leaders. Unable to make up the laps, Hamlin and the team ran out the race while taking advantage of the valuable track time to prep for a return to the 2.0-mile track in five weeks time. The 38th-place finish drops Hamlin five spots, to 12th, in the Cup Series standings heading to Michigan next weekend.
Hamlin at Michigan International Speedway
Michigan has been a mixed bag for Hamlin over the course of his six previous career starts. A blown engine with six laps remaining made for an agonizing day for Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Office team last August at MIS. Starting from 37th place on the grid, Hamlin and the team worked through handling issues all afternoon but raced into the top-ten before his engine expired on lap 194. In June of 2008, a pit stop on lap 155 looked to have Hamlin well-positioned for a top-five finish but a late caution sent the race into extra laps and the #11 team was forced to pit for fuel and settle for a 14th-place finish. In June of 2007 the #11 FedEx team had a car capable of running in the top-five and challenging for the win at MIS but costly pit road mishaps on laps 37 and 114 left Hamlin off the lead lap and having to scrape for a frustrating 14th-place finish. In the fall of 2007, Hamlin started and finished in the top-ten and left the #11 team satisfied with their ever-improving performances on the 2.0-mile track. In the rain shortened 3M Performance 400 in June 2006, Hamlin had worked his way up from the 21st spot on the grid to 12th before the race was called due to rain.
Michigan Chassis – JGR 246 & 225
The #11 team will unload chassis #246 this weekend at Michigan for a first-ever Cup start. 225 will serve as the backup this weekend and has two starts – 16th-place at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and 17th-place at Texas Motor Speedway in the fall of 2008.
MSY “Along for the Ride” in Michigan
The #11 FedEx Express Camry will feature “MSY” on the wing caps this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. The New Orleans, La. market is being recognized for its exceptional on-time performance to support operations and enhance the customer experience.
HAMLIN CONVERSATION - MICHIGAN
Michigan has been up and down for this team – how do you approach it this time around?
“Michigan is a track where I feel like we’ve made big gains but that hasn’t always shown at the end. We’ve had some mechanical issues that have hurt us, some problems on pit road that have hurt us, and that all came on the heels of me trying to get more comfortable on this big track so we’ve really yet to hit on this place consistently. We’ve been good here, but not each and every time and it’s that consistency that we are looking and working for. Michigan is a big track and the speeds are way up but you get spread out and, as the conditions change, you have to move around to find a groove that works. At Michigan you have a lot of space to work with and it gives the driver a lot of opportunity to move around and try different lines. I will be asking Mike (Ford) or Curtis (Markham) for lap times during the race so I can get an exact idea of how a new line is working. You can move around and figure out where you want to be and where you need to be to handle the corners at Michigan and make sure you are set up for these long straights. Getting that balance right is something we’ll work on from the very start on Sunday.”
The Cup Series now starts a long summer stretch, with a huge variety of tracks, how do you prepare for it?
“I don’t think we do anything differently than what we do at any other point of the season. We just have to focus on the next race and figure out what we need to do to be at our best. I work to keep myself in good shape and focused on what we have to do this week and this week only. It’s easy to get caught up in thinking about the Chase and how many races fall between now and then but we will be at some tracks where we know we have been good in the past – places like New Hampshire, Sonoma, Daytona, Indy – and that’s a variety of tracks so we feel like we can go anywhere and be competitive. We’re all working to step up our performance, get our equipment squared away and start getting those good finishes and challenging for wins. If we do that, the rest will take care of itself.”
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