July 4th at Daytona International Speedway – a time for fireworks both on and off the race track - and Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 featured plenty of both as Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team led 63 of 160 laps to come home a career-best third at the world-famous 2.5 mile superspeedway.


In his three previous Coke Zero 400 races Hamlin had posted finishes of 26th, 43rd and 17th. Saturday night, however, Hamlin was a contender throughout, racing with confidence and skill, leading six times and putting himself in position to win before ultimately being topped by race winner Tony Stewart and runner-up Jimmie Johnson.


"I wanted one of our cars to win so I decided to go with the 18 (Kyle Busch) right there to get around the 14 (Tony Stewart),”  said Hamlin about the final laps.  “It was a move to help a teammate.  Instead of us going for the win, I felt like our best shot was for us to push the 18 (Kyle Busch).  We got him the lead but it took us out of position and let the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) get around us.  But, overall, still a good day for our whole FedEx Office team." 


On the whole, Hamlin was happy with a strong run at Daytona.


"We had a great night.  Our FedEx Office car was extremely strong.  I don't think I've ever had a car this strong on a superspeedway.  I'm proud of our whole team.  We kept in this whole deal with the pit stops, a strong car, led a bunch of laps and had a decent day. It seemed like the first five or six cars could just pull away from the pack at times today.  The track was slick so it took a little while for us to kind of get broken away.  But, once we did it seemed like our car really came in." 


After Friday's qualifying session was rained out, Hamlin started the night from the sixth position on the grid by virtue of his place in NASCAR Sprint Cup points.


The driver of the #11 FedEx Office Toyota immediately showed his hand as a car to beat, making a charge to the front of the pack and passing Carl Edwards for fifth place on the opening lap. A lap later, Hamlin saw Hendrick Motor Sport teammates, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, in his rear view mirror and by lap four he was past Tony Stewart and in the lead – a position he would not relinquish until lap 15 when Stewart beat the FedEx Office driver out of the pits.


Throughout the night Stewart would have a huge advantage pitting in stall number one - at pit exit of the long Daytona International pit lane.  A number of times during the night, even with a faster pit stop then Stewart, Hamlin would be relegated to second because of the advantage of Stewart’s pit position.


After the first pit stop and a double file restart, Hamlin dropped from second to third and held that position on the pylon until the caution flew for a second time and Hamlin pitted on lap 29 for four tires, fuel and two inches of tape that was added to the grill to “tighten” the car up for Denny.


On the restart Hamlin started second but passed Stewart a lap later to assume the lead again on lap 32.  At the 40 lap mark - a quarter of the way into the race - Hamlin lead JGR teammate Kyle Busch, Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Johnson.  Then, as is often the case at Daytona, on lap 48, Hamlin got “hung-out” of the drafting line and dropped quickly from first to sixth in the field.


Eleven laps later on lap 59, Hamlin pitted for the third time and Mike Ford and the crew came up huge – moving Hamlin from fifth to second in he pit stop process. History repeated itself and two laps later Hamlin moved the FedEx Office Camry to the point.


For the next 50 laps Hamlin and Stewart would exchange the lead – mostly through Stewart’s advantageous pit stall situation only to be countered by Hamlin on the restart a lap or two later.  Unfortunately, Hamlin had to play big-time catch-up after restarting second on lap 107 then dropping ten spots to the 12th position on lap 109 because of the lack of a drafting partner.  Hamlin jumped on the radio immediately to tell Crew Chief Mike Ford – “Now I gotta do some work." And Hamlin did - picking his way through those in front of him moving to the sixth spot on lap 114.


He would remain in that position until the restart on lap 123.  With 34 laps remaining, and with additional tape on then FedEx Office Camry’s nose for speed from a lap 123 pit stop, Hamlin once again began to pick his way through the pack.  With 31 laps to go in the race Hamlin ran third behind Stewart and Kyle Busch and with Johnson in fourth. Together, the four leaders led the rest of the field by over three seconds with 27 laps  remaining.


When the seventh caution of the night flew Hamlin pitted third and came out third with just eleven laps remaining in the race.  Hamlin once again got a fantastic restart and was second to Stewart with just ten laps left in the race. Scott Speed brought out the final yellow of the night on lap 152 with Hamlin running second.


Hamlin was poised for his final restart of the night on lap 156 but it wasn't to be.  On the restart Kyle Busch squeezed by Hamlin moving him to third where he remained until the final lap fireworks. Johnson got by Hamlin and on the final stretch as Busch and Stewart tangled, eliminating Busch as Stewart pushed his way to the lead.  Johnson held second place and Hamlin was scored in third when the smoke cleared. The result marks Hamlin's third top-five finish in four races.


Busch would eventually cross the line in 14th, followed by he and Hamlin's rookie teammate Joey Logano in 19th.


With his finish, Hamlin remains sixth in NASCAR Sprint Cup points – still chasing point leader Tony Stewart who leads Jeff Gordon by 180 markers.


The Sprint Cup Series continues next weekend at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet (Ill.).