Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Office team played out an almost perfect fuel strategy Sunday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma (Calif.), leading 33 laps and scoring a well-deserved fifth-place finish to continue a steady climb up the Sprint Cup standings. 


Kasey Kahne held off a challenge from NASCAR Sprint Cup point leader Tony Stewart as the laps counted down to hang on for the win and claim his tenth career win at the Cup level while Marcos Ambrose and Jimmie Johnson finished third and fourth, respectively.


“We started back there pretty far so all in all it was a good day for our FedEx Office Camry,” said Hamlin.  “I led some laps and we had a car to contend for the win, just had a slow pit stop right there at the end.  It could be a couple things, slow pit stop or me getting on pit road slow.  We need to figure out where we lost five or six seconds there and that was the race for the win. It allowed the 9 (Kahne) and the 14 (Stewart) to go out right in front of us and that was the race for the win.  I knew it was as soon as I saw them pull off pit road.  They had a little bit fresher tires, so for us to hang on to fifth with old tires that’s pretty good.”


Hamlin’s second consecutive top-five finish sees him climb to seventh in the Sprint Cup Standings through seventeen races and heading to the friendly confines of New Hampshire Motor Speedway next weekend.  His Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Joey Logano and Kyle Busch both suffered through long afternoons at Infineon on their way to recording 19th and 22nd place finishes, respectively.


Hamlin started the race from the 24th-place on the grid and steadily worked his way through the field after the green flag fell – gaining a full ten spots by the time the race reached the 20-lap mark.  A lap later the first yellow flag of the day was thrown for debris on the track and on lap 22 Hamlin pitted for four tires and fuel while the majority of the leaders made the decision to stay on track.  Thus the fuel strategy chess match was on and the #11 team was working a much different path to the end than most of the field.  When the green flew for the restart on lap 24, Hamlin and the FedEx Office Camry were scored in 22nd place.  From there Hamlin would only improve his position as the leaders in front of him, who did not pit under yellow, were forced to stop for fuel.


On lap 33 Hamlin claimed the top spot when Kahne pulled off for fuel.  Hamlin then led twice for a total of 33 laps until he pitted on lap 67 – the whole time saving fuel so he could finish the race with just two fuel stops, while most of the other teams were forced to stop three times.


A yellow flag on lap 52 helped Hamlin to save fuel but it was still too early to pit if he hoped to finish the race on just two stops.   At the halfway point – lap 55 – Hamlin led the race while being chased by Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Logano and Boris Said.  A lap later, on the restart, Hamlin continued to control the race as the team made plans to pit on lap 67 to fill his fuel tank for what the #11 team hoped would be the last stop of the day.   


After pitting for four tires and fuel, Hamlin rejoined the race in the 15th position and he began to make his way to the front as the other competitors tried to extend their fuel windows. 


Yellow flag number three flew on lap 75 and, with most of the field pitting, Hamlin was able to stay out and restart in the sixth position.  As they ran, the fuel strategy devised by Mike Ford and the team was certainly paying off.   From that point on, Hamlin would never be outside of the top-seven, and only a poor double-file restart dropped him to that position on lap 80. 


After a debris yellow on lap 87 and another double-file restart, Marcos Ambrose passed Hamlin to put him sixth.  On lap 96 a tailpipe on the track brought out another yellow but this time Hamlin nailed the restart getting by both Juan Pablo Montoya and Johnson to gain the fourth spot.  Ultimately Johnson would return the favor on lap 103 to claim the fourth spot while Hamlin would take the checkered in fifth.


The Cup Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway next Sunday for the Lennox Industrial Tools 301 – a race that Hamlin won in July of 2007.