Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team followed up their win at Pocono with a hard-fought tenth-place finish in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen on Monday afternoon at Watkins Glen International.  The result keeps the #11 team solidly in fifth place in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings heading to Michigan International Speedway and the 23rd race of the 2009 season.


The 11-turn road course in Upstate New York has been a good track for Hamlin and team as they haven’t finished outside of the top-ten in three previous races at the Glen.  On Monday, despite a pit road speeding penalty during a lap 17 caution that dropped Hamlin from second place to 36th-place for the restart, the team rallied late to keep that top-ten string alive.


“Overall it was a good result for this FedEx team, we fought hard today,” said Hamlin.  “That (pit road speeding) penalty early on really hurt us but to drop that far back and work our way back into the top-ten says a lot about this whole FedEx team.  We just kept after it and got a top-ten.  We would have liked to be up front racing for the win but we can take a lot from this race.”


The finish keeps Hamlin solidly in fifth place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings heading to Michigan next weekend with only four races to go before the start of the 2009 Chase.  He is currently 56 points behind Kurt Busch in Fourth Place and has a 220 point cushion over 13th place.


Tony Stewart stretched his fuel load all the way to victory lane, holding off Marco Ambrose for the win on Monday afternoon.  Ambrose finished second while Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle filled out the top-five.


Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Joey Logano finished fourth and 16th, respectively.


Hamlin put forth a very good qualifying effort on Friday, posting the third quickest time, and that set him up with valuable track position for the start of the 90-lap race.  From the drop of the green, the driver of the #11 FedEx Freight Camry charged forward, claiming second place from Jimmie Johnson and then putting the chase to leader Kurt Busch.


Hamlin broke his radio silence on lap 11 when he informed the crew that he was loose off but otherwise happy with the performance  of the FedEx Camry through the early stages of the race.


The #11 team enacted their fuel strategy – usually a success-determining decision – on lap 17 when the caution flag flew.  Hamlin joined the rest of the lead pack when he pulled the #11 FedEx Freight Camry onto pit road for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment.  A quick stop looked to have Hamlin out alongside leader Kurt Busch but NASCAR immediately sent word that he had been too fast exiting pit road.  The penalty dropped Hamlin to the tail end of the longest line and he would restart in 36th on lap 20.


Following the restart, Hamlin had his work cut out for him but he was determined to make up for the error. He worked past Jeff Burton and David Ragan to claim 34th place on lap 21, then rose to 32nd place on the very next lap.


The second caution flag of the day flew on lap 24 but Crew Chief Mike Ford told Hamlin to stay out and the Chesterfield, Va. native obliged, lining up 21st for the restart on lap 26.  Hamlin then surged forward again, taking 17th place from David Reutimann on lap 30 and making his way all the way into 13th place by the time the caution came out on lap 41.


After restarting in the 13th spot on lap 44, Ford urged Hamlin to push forward, knowing that the final pit stop was within a ten-lap window.  Hamlin did just that, making his way past Matt Kenseth on lap 46 for 12th place.


Ford called Hamlin onto pit road for the last time on lap 54 for fuel, tires and a track bar adjustment to tighten up his handling.  With a wide variety of fuel strategies in place, Hamlin would cycle through the pit stops in 16th place.


A multi-car wreck on lap 62 brought out the yellow, then the red flag for 19 minutes, before Hamlin restarted just on the outside of the top ten on lap 66.  Following the delay, Hamlin fought for every position, all while taking every opportunity to save fuel should the race go past the scheduled 90 laps.  On lap 68, Hamlin worked his way past Casey Mears for a spot in the top-ten and he looked ready to make up additional spots before the caution flew on lap 71.


His forward momentum was halted momentarily on lap 75, however, when he was forced wide in turn one by Brian Vickers and sacrificed three positions before he could gather up the car.  He would get his revenge on Vickers only five laps later when he reclaimed 12th spot and he then took the 11th spot on lap 86.


The culmination of Hamlin’s fight back came on the last lap when he passed Martin Truex Jr., who ran out of fuel, before taking the checkered flag.