Hamlin, FedEx Racing Rebound With Top-Five at Kansas
Coming off a disappointing 22nd-place finish at Dover International Speedway in the second race of the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup, Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team were focused on getting back to the performance levels that saw them enter the ten-race playoff with as much momentum as any team in the series. Kansas Speedway offered them that opportunity and they took full advantage as Hamlin charged forward early in the race and never looked back on his way to driving the #11 FedEx Freight Camry to a career-best fifth-place finish at the 1.5-mile track.  As the laps counted down, Hamlin look poised to challenge for the win but a late caution gave all of the teams the chance to pit – undoing the #11 team’s fuel advantage – and Hamlin couldn’t chase down the leaders before the end.  The result marked Hamlin’s 11th top-five finish of the season and keeps the FedEx team alive in the Chase. He sits 99 points behind leader Mark Martin and only eight points behind Kurt Busch in fifth.


Hamlin at Auto Club Speedway
This weekend will mark Hamlin's eighth career Cup start at the two-mile track in Fontana and his 145th career Cup Series start.  Earlier this season, Hamlin’s late surge into the top-ten and subsequent sixth-place finish had the team moving up the points list into 15th-place heading to Las Vegas.  Hamlin fought an ill-handling car for much of the race but persevered as the FedEx crew worked through myriad changes on pit road.  Great pit stops on laps 169 and 209 earned Hamlin places on pit road that set him up in fourth for the final restart on lap 215.  As the laps counted down Hamlin could do little to hold the fourth spot and ultimately slipped back to sixth at the checkered flag.  A year ago Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team registered a best- ever third-place finish at Auto Club to propel them into the 2008 Chase. In the spring of 2008 Hamlin was forced from the rain delayed Monday-afternoon race early when he hit water seeping through the track on lap 15 of the event and was sent sailing into the turn two wall.  Despite making considerable repairs, the damage was done and Hamlin was scored in 41st place.  In the fall 2007 race a cut tire under caution late in the race spoiled what was otherwise a promising day for the FedEx team and led to a 19th-place finish.  In the spring of 2006, Hamlin had a very competitive car and ran as high as third place before handling issues caused him to fade late in the race and take the checkered in 11th.  During his rookie campaign, Hamlin posted finishes of sixth and 12th and led 29 laps in the fall edition – the only laps he has led at Auto Club Speedway to date.


Auto Club Chassis – JGR 246 and 253
The team will unload JGR 246 this weekend in California. This car led 299 laps on the way to a dominating win at Richmond in September.  Prior to that race, this car posted a third-place finish at Michigan in June, then fell victim to a broken driveshaft at Indianapolis in July before finishing 34th on the day.  JGR 253 will serve in backup duty.


FedEx Ground Home Delivery Mississippi Valley “Along for the Ride” in California
FedEx Home Delivery Region Mississippi Valley Region will ride along with Denny when the he takes to the track at Auto Club Speedway this weekend. The #11 FedEx Ground Toyota will feature “QMSV” on the wing caps to recognize the team for leading all FedEx Home Delivery regions in customer service scores.


Hamlin Conversation – Auto Club Speedway


A good run at California has you in the thick of the Chase heading to California this week.  Are you pleased with where you are right now?
“I wish we were leading this Chase but, yes, I think we can look at what we’ve done in the Chase so far and feel pretty good about it.  We missed at Dover and that set us back but top-fives at New Hampshire and Kansas have us in decent shape. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the race results from the standings, it’s the same guys each week, the Chase contenders, running up front so there is no room for error and it’s really hard to close gaps in the points when everyone in the Chase is running up front.  At this point, the one thing we can’t do is worry about what the other teams are doing.  We can only worry about ourselves and getting good results each week.  If we keep running well and don’t do anything to beat ourselves out there, we can be a factor.”


Your last two starts at California have seen you beat or tie your best results.  Does that give you confidence heading there this weekend?
“California, like a lot of the big tracks, is a place where we have struggled in the past but a place where this FedEx team has made really big gains recently. Take a place like Kansas where we’ve never really been able to run up front and we go there this season and run top-five and maybe should have finished in the top three.  I think we’ll be competitive at California and at the other big tracks we go to through the rest of the Chase.  These tracks were definitely a weak spot for as one point but we’ve improved a lot and that gives us the confidence to go anywhere and know we can run up front.”