After suffering through disasterous luck at Dover and Pocono, Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team posted a well-deserved third-place finish at Michigan International Speedway last weekend.  The result, earned through a combination of smart driving, good strategy and excellent work on pit road, marks Hamlin’s first top-ten since Phoenix and pushed the team up to tenth in the Sprint Cup Series standings heading to Sonoma.


Hamlin at Infineon

This weekend’s Toyota/SaveMart 350 will mark Hamlin’s fourth Cup start at Infineon Raceway and his eighth-career Cup road course try.  In 2008, after carving his way forward from the 13th-place on the starting grid, Hamlin was caught by the caution and dropped deep in the field.  As he worked his way forward, he spun in turn 11 on lap 51 and was then forced off the track from behind when traffic stacked up in turn two following a lap-109 restart.  He ended the day a disapointing 27th.  In 2007 Hamlin started 36th, drove from deep in the field to lead three laps and looked to have managed the mileage challenge correctly before several cars stretched their fuel loads to the end - leaving Hamlin and the FedEx team to finish tenth.   Hamlin's shifter knob broke loose during lap 17 of the 2007 race, forcing him to drive over twenty laps without it before he could work with the team to make repairs under caution on lap 41. In his 2006 debut at Infineon, Hamlin was forced into a back up car after a practice session wreck and, with no opportunity to practice before qualifying, was forced to start from the 40th-spot on the grid.  Following the drop of the green flag, Hamlin and crew had their work cut out for them as they persevered through early handling issues and then a cut tire to post an impressive 12th-place finish.  Hamlin has experienced additional road course success in his career, recording three top-tens in three Cup Series starts at Watkins Glen, including a second-place finish in 2007, and winning the Nationwide Series race at Mexico City in March of 2006.


Infineon Chassis – JGR 241 & 208

The #11 team will unload chassis #241 this weekend in Sonoma for a first-ever Cup start.  This car tested at Virginia International Raceway one week ago.  208 is the back up and has yet to make a start this season.


FedEx Office Store #0579 “Along for the Ride” at Infineon

In recognition of their outstanding commitment to customer service, FedEx Office store #0579, located in Norwood, Mass., will be featured on the wing caps of the #11 FedEx Office Toyota this weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Ca.


HAMLIN CONVERSATION - INFINEON


This weekend will be your fourth start at Infineon, do you grow more confident at a place like this over time?

"I do feel more confident and being more comfortable with the track definitely helps me work to get this car in the right place.  This car is taking some getting used to but all the teams are working on it and you’ve see some good racing both here and at Watkins Glen.  We know fuel mileage be a huge factor here, and we got bit by a caution last season that we couldn’t recover from, so you have to have a strategy in place and also hope the cautions fall in your favor.  We ran at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) last week and had a good test.  We spent a lot of time on handling but we spent some time on fuel mileage also and we hope that translates to this weekend as well as it did last weekend at Michigan.”


Do you count yourself among the road course fans?

"I really do.  I can honestly say I look forward to running these courses.  I know some folks go back and forth on that subject but I really think they should be a part of the series because they offer different challenges for the teams and the drivers.  It's the same car, but you are preparing it differently and it's not just turning left and right - you have elevation changes and different forces to deal with and in this new car, especially, that is a fun challenge. I think my background running flatter tracks has really helped me learn how to run a road course and I have been able to translate that experience to good races at Infineon, and also up at Watkins Glen where we finished second and in Mexico where we had some really good runs in the Nationwide Series.”


With some experience to point to, what are your impressions of Infineon?

“Infineon demands you to be really consistent on each lap.  The turns are sharper, you have some big elevation changes that throw the car around a lot, and the speeds are slower so you need to be methodical and fast, but also really careful.  I got off track in practice during my first year here and ended up tearing up a good race car so I know what can happen on these courses.  In 2007 I lost my shift knob early in the race and I had to fix it on the fly.  The guys handed me a replacement knob and some tools through the window and I had to remove the broken piece and attach the new one during the cautions.  I was steering with my knees and working on it all at the same time.  I figure we won't have a more unusual problem than that."