Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team couldn’t replicate the performance that has made them a recent favorite at New Hampshire, fighting handling issues all-race long before rain ended last Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 after 273 laps with the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota running 15th.  Despite being a frustrating day for Hamlin, who started seventh and led one lap, the result sees the team leave New Hampshire Motor Speedway and head to Daytona for the Coke Zero 400 having gained one spot in the Sprint Cup Series points.  Hamlin now holds the sixth spot in the standings with a five point lead over Ryan Newman in seventh and sits 392 points behind leader Tony Stewart.


Hamlin at Daytona International Speedway

This weekend will mark Hamlin’s eighth Cup start at Daytona International and his 133rd career Cup start.  Last summer, Hamlin led six laps and showed the speed and handling necessary to contend for the win before late-race incidents on lap 136 and lap 158 relegated the FedEx team to a 26th-place finish. Scant consolation considering the quality of the #11 FedEx Toyota.  Hamlin followed up last summer’s 26th place finish with another 26th-place finish this spring in the 2009 Daytona 500.  The team posted a best-ever finish in the 500 in 2008, when Hamlin led 32 laps and had one of the more dominant cars in the field.  Unfortunately, contact suffered on pit road during a lap 120 stop required repair and adversely affected the handle on the #11 FedEx Camry.  Despite making his way back into the pack for the finish, his position in the draft left him vulnerable to the string of incidents before the end and he settled for a 17th place finish.  In July of 2007, Hamlin led ten laps early in the race before he found then teammate Tony Stewart in his rearview mirror on lap 15.  The two made contact with each other resulting in substantial damage to both cars. After a significant amount of time was spent in the garage repairing the car, the #11 team was able to get Hamlin back on the track 60 laps down to the leaders and finished the race running 43rd.   The #11 team posted a best-ever July race performance in the summer of 2006, when Hamlin raced to a 17th-place finish.  On a night when the team ran through myriad changes to help the handle on the #11 car, Hamlin was able to avoid the incidents that would plague him in coming years.


Daytona Chassis – JGR 244 & 200

The #11 team will unload chassis #244 this weekend at Daytona for a first-ever start.  Chassis #200 finished 26th in this race last summer and has served as a backup for all of the restrictor plate races to date this season.


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

In recognition of their outstanding commitment to customer service, FedEx Office store #0579 will be featured on the wing caps of the #11 FedEx Office Toyota this weekend at Daytona International Speedway. Store #0579, located in Norwood, Mass., led all stores in customer service metrics for fiscal year 2009.


HAMLIN CONVERSATION - DAYTONA


How does the summer visit to Daytona differ from the 500?

“Definitely a much different feel going back to the summer race at Daytona after being there for a couple of weeks in the Spring.  The biggest difference between the two is running under the lights and it being a shorter race but the 500 is such a big race on its own and there is a ton of build up, and obviously a lot of on-track events in addition to the point race with the Bud Shootout and the duel races.  Throw in a lot of our off-track obligations during that week as we prepare for a new season and it seems less and less like a normal race for us.  So, to go back to that same track on what is really a regular weekend schedule for us is pretty cool and gives you a different perspective.  Of course it’s still racing at Daytona and when you get in the car – all of that stuff gets put out of your mind.  The 500 was shortened on account of rain and we left some laps on the board last weekend at Loudon so I hope the rain stays away for the fans this weekend.”


The JGR superspeedway package has really come on strong over the past two years – can you speak to that improvement?

“We had a race-winning car at Talladega in April and we’ve really gone from being competitive to there being times when the three JGR cars were out in front together on these plate tracks.  Kyle won this race last season and we’ve seen that the JGR package is capable of winning on any of the big tracks so we’re always optimistic about what we have now. The guys at the shop, on the three teams and everyone at Toyota have really pushed the progress of our superspeedway package and it’s showing each time we get to Talladega or Daytona.  It’s been a big help for me that as I’ve grown more comfortable on these tracks and in the draft, that the JGR cars are always getting better and better at the same time.”