Denny Hamlin fought an ill-handling race car for most of Sunday’s Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. but through perseverance, lightening fast pit stops, great adjustments to the #11 FedEx Freight Toyota and very good drive, he scored an impressive sixth-place finish on the day and posted the team’s first top-ten finish of the 2009 Sprint Cup season.

The finish sees Hamlin jump from 27th to 15th in NASCAR Sprint Cup points as the Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the third race of the season next Sunday afternoon.

Starting in the 23rd position, next to Daytona 500 and Sunday’s eventual winner Matt Kenseth, Hamlin charged from his spot on the inside of row 12 to twelfth place overall before the first yellow flew for rain on lap five.  Rain would cause four of the five yellows throughout the afternoon but, unlike last week at Daytona, would never stop the event completely.

After frustration in Daytona last weekend, this weekend was very rewarding for the FedEx team.  Fighting a loose car the entire afternoon but continuing to make improvements and with the FedEx Freight team making fast pit stops the team continued to gain positions as the laps were put in the books.

Hamlin, starting as early as Friday practice, battled a loose car – Mike Ford and the crew worked hard all weekend to try to tighten the car up, something that they finally accomplished with about 50 laps to go in the race.  Hamlin ran as high as fourth with less than 15 laps to go but would ultimately bring the FedEx Freight Toyota home in the sixth spot.

For Hamlin it was a good day, even though he finished just outside of the top five.

“We were loose the entire race - we fought it and fought it.  The longer the run the harder it was on the right rear tires and we'd just roll away, “said a tired Hamlin just after exiting the car.  “We made adjustments to the FedEx Freight Toyota all night - we made as many changes as we could and got to where we could drive the car near the end.  It was too bad -we were fourth and ended up sixth - we were way, way loose and just couldn't hang on.

The FedEx pit crew put together some fantastic stops and moved us up a few places on pit road - they did really well tonight.  Even without testing we are really starting to put ourselves into a good position this season.  We have been running near the front with the other guys who run up there - we haven't lost any ground.  Mike Ford and the FedEx guys worked hard all weekend and it paid off at the very end for us.”.

Matt Kenseth picked-up where he left off last weekend – with a win – as he held off Jeff Gordon to claim his 18th career win and his third win at Auto Club Speedway.  Kenseth led the race three times for 84 laps during the 500 mile event and led the final 37 laps to take home top prize.   Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Bush finished third, Greg Biffle was fourth and Kurt Bush took the fifth spot.  Hamlin and Busch’s rookie teammate Joey Logano finished 26th, one lap behind the leaders.

Pit stops were more important than ever for the #11 FedEx Toyota as constant changes to the car helped move Hamlin to the front.  On his first stop of the night Hamlin took four tires, fuel and made some major air pressure adjustments to the tires to help the car.  Still Hamlin fought a car that was “too loose” and getting “looser and looser” as the runs went on.  The second time he came to pit road on lap 87 the changes were similar to the first stop and he exited the pits just outside the top ten in the field.

On the third stop of the evening, lap 126, Mike Ford told the team to pull out a right rear spring rubber to tighten up the Toyota - it worked, as Hamlin still driving 11th reported the car “feeling better.”.

The most important stop of the evening was the fifth stop, under yellow for rain on lap 169, when Mike Ford called Hamlin in as pit road opened.  Some of the teams stayed out thinking the rain would continue but it didn’t.  Hamlin was 11th before the yellow and when the race restarted Hamlin was in seventh with the best feeling car he had all night.  Hamlin then began to turn his fastest laps of the event.  The changes to the car along with a rapidly cooling track brought out the best in Hamlin and the FedEx Freight Toyota.

On lap 209 Hamlin came into the pits sixth and once again the #11 FedEx Freight crew rose to the occasion – getting Hamlin out in fourth for the final restart on lap 215.

But on lap 234 Hamlin called into the pits reporting a possible tire going down.  After the team had a chance to look at it, they determined it wasn’t going down but ultimately the handling of the car was going away in the final stages of the event.  Hamlin would be passed by Kurt Busch and Biffle in the final stint before crossing the line in sixth.