If Dover International Speedway has been an Achilles heel for Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team in the past, with finishes of 35th, 38th, 43rd and 38th respectively over the last four visits, Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at the “Monster Mile” might just be chalked up as a stubbed toe.  Hamlin fought handling issues all race long and, despite best efforts of driver and crew alike, he was never able to challenge his fellow Chase contenders as he drove the FedEx Ground Camry to a 22nd place finish Sunday in the AAA 400. 


“We’re definitely disappointed, but we didn’t crash,” said Hamlin after the race. “We didn’t have a 35th-place finish, but we just didn’t have a car that was capable of running with any speed day.  We weren’t really fast in qualifying.  We weren’t fast in all the practices.  Our car just didn’t have a whole lot of speed. Mike (Ford) and the FedEx Ground crew tried and tried to find a way to make us more stable during pit stops but nothing worked”


Jimmie Johnson dominated the race, leading on three occasions for 271 of a possible 400 laps on his way to the win.  Mark Martin backed up his New Hampshire win by claiming the second spot and was joined in the top five by Matt Kenseth, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kurt Busch.


Hamlin entered the afternoon third in the NASCAR Chase for Sprint Cup standings, only 35 points out of first, but when the day ended he dropped to sixth in the Chase, 108 points behind leader Martin. 
“We definitely came out here thinking the FedEx Ground Toyota could win the race just like any other weekend,” said Hamlin.  “But as soon as the green flag fell, I knew we were in trouble.  It was just a bad day.  The tire that we had was so loose that you had to overcompensate so much with the chassis that it just didn’t make for good racing, at least from my standpoint.”


Hamlin started the afternoon 13th on the grid and almost immediately began to fight handling problems – “loose” was the term he uttered throughout the afternoon over the radio.  When the competition yellow flew on lap 25, called on account of the heavy rains that washed virtually all the rubber off the track overnight, Ford and the FedEx Ground team immediately began to make adjustments intended to make the car tighter for Hamlin.


Hamlin barely had time to get up to speed on the restart on lap 31 when JGR teammate Joey Logano got into a serious multi-car accident in Turn three and barrel-rolled seven times only to walk away uninjured to the relief of everyone – especially his JGR teammates.  The accident brought out the red flag for 23 minutes while track crews cleaned up the debris and, during the delay, the track conditions began to change as the sun broke through the clouds.


Hamlin lined up 13th on lap 36 but suffered a poor restart that dropped him back to 16th place in the field.  From there Hamlin began to slowly claw his way forward but was held back by a car that was very difficult to drive. 


When Hamlin pitted on lap 87 he was running in 14th place and continued to look to Mike and the FedEx Ground team to help him dial in the car.  Ford ordered up four tires, fuel, air pressure adjustments and a wedge adjustment before sending Hamlin out where he and Kenseth made slight contact on exit.  Hamlin was concerned that he damaged his right front quarter panel though it proved not significant enough to affect the car.


100 laps into the race, eventual winner Jimmie Johnson was running second to Kurt Busch and Hamlin was running in 18th, struggling with long green-flag runs.  The longer the runs went, the looser his Toyota became.


Hamlin and the FedEx team continued to make wholesale changes each pit stop as Hamlin continued to fight hard for every position, but eventually the poor handling caught up with him and on lap 253 race leader Jimmie Johnson put him a lap down.


Hamlin and the team fought hard the rest of the afternoon and even with massive adjustments and great pit strategy the team lost another lap to finish two laps down at the end of the 400-mile race.   The balance of the car was never right for Hamlin who had problems with tire chatter and lack of grip but did finish 22nd to earn 97 points for the day and drop only three spots in the points race – from third to sixth.  Unfortunately Hamlin had the lowest finish of any the Chase contenders.


Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Joey Logano finished 42nd and 31st, respectively.  Logano, as mentioned, was involved in an accident and Busch was slowed with a cut tire and then made significant contact with the wall.


By virtue of his second-place finish, Mark Martin maintains his lead in the Chase standings heading to Kansas next weekend.  He holds 10 point lead over Jimmie Johnson with Juan Pablo Montoya third, Kurt Busch fourth and Tony Stewart fifth just two points in front of Hamlin in sixth.