Before heading into the off weekend, Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team posted an impressive fifth-place finish at Bristol. Despite starting from the back of the field and then suffering an early cut tire that forced them off the lead lap only 60 laps in, the team never stopped working and it paid off by the end. The stats may not show the exact number of cars Hamlin passed in the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota over 500 laps at the .533-mile high-banked oval at Bristol, but it’s no secret the Chesterfield (Va.) native would have liked the chance to pass a few more before taking the checkered flag. The result sees Hamlin gain one spot in the Sprint Cup Series standings heading to Atlanta and keeps the team in the thick of the Sprint Cup Series championship race.
Hamlin at Atlanta Motor Speedway
This weekend will mark Hamlin's ninth-career Cup start at Atlanta Motor Speedway and 140th career Sprint Cup start. Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx team posted a 13th-place finish earlier this season. Hamlin ran in the top-five for much of the day but with the laps winding down, he found himself with an extremely loose race car. He was scored in sixth place with 51 laps remaining but slid back in the field before the end and ultimately brought the #11 FedEx Camry home in 13th. A year ago, Hamlin led 56 laps leading into the ninth caution of the day, but couldn’t hold off the charge of Carl Edwards as the #99 passed on the restart. Hamlin broke loose under pressure from Jimmie Johnson on the final lap but held on to finish third. In the spring of 2008, Hamlin turned in a 15th-place finish after losing his power steering with more than 100 laps to run. Despite the loss of the mechanical aid, Hamlin gained five spots over the closing laps. During the fall race of 2007, Hamlin and the FedEx team fell victim to water that had collected in the fuel tank over the course of the event and it ultimately stalled the #11 while Hamlin brought the field to the green flag during a late race restart. The water, found in the tanks providing fuel to all of the competitors during the race, had displaced fuel in the tank of the #11 car and skewed the team's fuel calculations and left Hamlin to finish 24th. Perhaps Hamlin's best outing at AMS came in the spring of 2006 when the #11 was the fastest car on the track early in the race, leading four times for a total of 16 laps, before a loose wheel forced him off the lead lap and caused him to finish 31st. Hamlin's posted an impressive eighth-place finish as a rookie in the fall of 2006.
Atlanta Motor Speedway Chassis – JGR 232 and 225
The team will unload JGR 232 for the third time this season. This car posted a fifth-place finish at Chicagoland and 12th-place finish at Texas. JGR 225 is the back up and has one start this season, a 22nd-place finish at Las Vegas in March.
FedEx Express Fact
Hamlin has posted six top-five finishes over his last ten starts and has climbed from tenth to fourth place in that same span. One year ago, Hamlin and the #11 team sat in 11th place only three weeks before the Chase cutoff, but posted top-three finishes at Bristol, California and Richmond to clinch a a spot in a third-consecutive Chase.
Hamlin Conversation - Atlanta
How does the change from day race to night race affect your prep for Atlanta?
“It will be different but I think it’s a good change and I think it will be a good show for the fans for sure. Atlanta is a great race track and you usually get close racing and exciting finishes. Atlanta already has an abrasive surface with a ton of grip and the cooler temps should provide even more grip so I think you’ll see even more of the racing that Atlanta is known for. Being under the lights certainly makes for a great atmosphere for the fans and I think that excitement carries over to the drivers. I participated in the tire test there recently and I think the tire that Goodyear brought was a big improvement over what we’ve had in the past. It should really improve the racing.”
You have a chance to lock into the Chase starting this weekend – do you keep track of your position at this point?
“We definitely pay attention to it, and we have built up a decent cushion over 13th place but you can’t take anything for granted – especially knowing just how tight it is around the cut off. We really want to put ourselves in position to be locked in and not worry about points when we get to Richmond. That was an early goal of ours. That gives us a little more flexibility. We know, from being in the Chase each year since my rookie season in 2006, that it is really important to get off to a good start. Knowing we are in will certainly help us as we prepare to start things off right in New Hampshire.”
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