Hamlin, FedEx Racing Sweep Fall Run Through Virginia with Martinsville Win

Denny Hamlin freely admitted that, if needed, he would return the bump from Jimmie Johnson that took away his shot at victory in the spring visit to Martinsville.  Thanks to a great drive and perfect race strategy on Sunday afternoon, he didn’t need to.  Hamlin worked the #11 FedEx Toyota to the front and left Johnson chasing him, attempting to close the gap over the final 137 laps and though three late restarts.  He could only get as far as the bumper of the #11 as Hamlin fended off the challenge to take the checkered flag.
    The win marks a second visit to Martinsville Speedway’s Victory Lane for the #11 team and career-best third win for the season for Hamlin.  With the Chase for the Sprint Cup out of reach on the heels of poor finishes at California and Charlotte, Sunday’s win serves as both consolation and inspiration for Hamlin and the FedEx Racing program.
    “It’s a good bounce back,” said Hamlin.  I just need to thank all my fans for giving me some hope that the last two weeks were in the past. Just have to thank everyone from FedEx, JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing), everyone in the shop that puts these cars together because we keep bringing better cars to the race track every single week and it’s starting to show. I know all those guys are going to be aggressive to try to get a win.  We just had the best car there at the end. The 48 (Johnson) didn’t do anything that he shouldn’t have and made sure he protected his points lead. He gave us a little bit of respect as well. It feels great to get three wins this season -- more than we’ve had in any other season. This is the best we’ve been. It’s just a shame our Chase has gone so bad.”
    While Hamlin celebrated the win, Johnson claimed second place and extended his lead in the Chase over his closest rival, Mark Martin to 118 points heading to Talladega next weekend.  Juan Pablo Montoya continued his impressive Chase run with a third-place finish while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top five.  Hamlin and Busch’s JGR teammate Joey Logano posted a 12th-place finish.
    Hamlin and the FedEx Racing team earned the maximum points available by winning the race and leading a race-high 206 laps and Hamlin climbs from 11th to ninth in the Chase standings.  He currently sits 352 points behind Johnson and 152 points behind Montoya in fifth place.
    The Chase for the Sprint Cup continues next weekend when the Cup Series visits Talladega Superspeedway for the last restrictor plate race of the 2009 season.
    Though starting from the 17th spot on the grid Sunday, the #11 team always expected to be challenging for the win by the time the field completed 500 laps around the Cup Series’ shortest track.  At .526 miles, Martinsville breeds contact, but also rewards the drivers with the feel and instinct for short track racing.  Early on, Hamlin charged forward but through the pit stops found himself unable to crack into the top-five as the team worked through changes and the field fluctuated on account of differing pit strategies.
    “The guys did a good job. It came down to we were bouncing back seventh to 12th early in the race from not qualifying well, and every time we'd come in, we would give up a couple spots,” said Mike Ford, Crew Chief of the #11 FedEx Toyota.  “We needed to get track position, so we got two tires, which kind of put us in a strange window there, but the guys did a good job on pit road, and we got a couple quick cautions there.  So we needed a little bit longer run there, and we got it. The runs just fell our way today. The cautions fell our way even at the end of the race. We were better on older tires, and it kind of worked to our advantage today.”
    The opening 100 laps were not without excitement and concern for the #11 team.  During a lap 45 caution that brought the entire field to pit road, Hamlin made contact with the #88 Chevrolet of Dale Earnhardt Jr. as he left the pit box and the team scrambled to diagnose the severity of the damage.  After inspection from the pit wall and with the help of the other competitors, the crew decided it wouldn’t affect performance and decided against pitting for repairs.
    Hamlin restarted 12th on lap 50 and an extended green-flag run finally gave the Virginia-native the opportunity to truly flex the muscle of the #11 Toyota.  Over 31 laps he made up seven spots, claiming a spot in the top-five on lap 82 when he dove inside of Gordon for fifth place.
    Back on pit road on lap 90, Hamlin’s only concern to the crew was the delay in the performance following tire changes – though when the tires came in, he was clearly one of the top three quickest cars on the track.  After a quick stop for tires, fuel and air pressure adjustment, he restarted eighth on lap 94.
    Through another caution and another slow take off, Hamlin held his position in the top ten but Ford and the #11 crew had already made the decision to get Hamlin the track position he desperately needed.  Veering from the strategy of leaders by pitting slightly out of sequence, Ford called for two tires and a track bar adjustment and it only cost Hamlin a handful of spots as he lined up to restart 12th on lap 164.
    The call worked to perfection as not only did Hamlin have little trouble reclaiming positions on track, a quick caution brought all of the leaders to pit road leaving Denny on track to restart second for the restart on lap 181.  Consecutive cautions on laps 196 and 211 kept Denny up front as he waited for the entire field to reach their fuel window again before visiting pit road.
    At the halfway point, 250 laps, Hamlin was out front on older tires and holding off a furious challenge from both Johnson and Montoya.  The 11th caution of the day flew just before lap 300 to bring Denny to pit road. A very quick stop got him out to restart eighth, behind a handful of cars that either stayed out or took only two tires, but he was able to charge forward again and he ran in second place by lap 330 - chasing Johnson who had opened up a 2.3 seconds lead.
    In what would be the pivotal pass of the race, Hamlin methodically caught and passed Johnson to take the lead on 363.  He then set sail knowing one more stop for fuel was needed to make the end and as much time as he could put between himself and Johnson was, barring a caution, critical.
    By lap 400, Hamlin opened up a 1.8-second lead over Johnson as the pair darted through lapped traffic, and Hamlin extended that lead to 3.5 seconds by the time he pulled in for fuel and four tires on lap 435.  The team worked quickly and the strategy worked to perfection as Hamlin cycled through the stops in front of Johnson with 60 laps to run.
    Then, as fate would have it, the first of three cautions flew on lap 444 and Hamlin would be forced to lead Johnson, Montoya, Vickers and Gordon to the green knowing there was no cushion and certainly no quarter being offered.
    A flawless restart once again saw Hamlin open up a lead but he would need to repeat the clean restart twice more over the final 15 laps – twice holding off Johnson to put an exclamation point on a stunning Martinsville win.