Hamlin, FedEx Racing End Successful Season with Homestead Win

Knowing that a championship was out of reach, Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team headed to the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway prepared to go all out for a race win, put an exclamation point on a successful season, and attempt to climb back into the top five in points.  In the end, they accomplished all goals as Hamlin led a race-high 71 laps on his way to the win and, by virtue of the first-place finish, he finishes the season fifth in the final Sprint Cup point standings.

“It’s been a great year,” said Hamlin. “To get four wins and to win on a track that people don’t necessarily expect us to win on is a great deal. Starting this car in back and coming to the front was a tall order. We kept working on it. Me and Mike (Ford, crew chief) went back and forth with adjustments all day and just kept getting it a little bit better. Then we’d go take a step back and he’d (Mike Ford, crew chief) make it two steps better the next run. That shows what communication that we have between us and how strong our relationship is. I don’t see us getting any weaker anytime soon. We hope to be where Jimmie is at in a couple of years and we’re showing that we do have a little bit of strength.”

For Hamlin, it was truly a banner year.  To go with a fifth-place finish, he scored a career-high fourth win and led the most laps of his career to date.  More importantly for the Chesterfield, Va. native is the confidence he gained throughout the 2009 season as the #11 team proved they are capable of running up front week in and week out, on all varieties of tracks.

Johnson wrapped up an incredible fourth consecutive Sprint Cup championship with a fifth place finish on Sunday evening.  Following the race, Hamlin praised the only Series Champion he has known since joining NASCAR’s top flight full-time in 2006.

“That #48 team has been the standard,” said Hamlin.  “They haven’t made mistakes and that’s who we ultimately want to beat is the guys that are a dominating force like them. I think we’re showing that we have that strength to compete with those guys. It’s just that they’ve done a phenomenal job. Four in a row for them and I couldn’t be happier for Jimmie. There’s no more deserving champion than them.”

As the team loaded up the #11 Toyota for the trip back to North Carolina, Crew chief Mike Ford and Joe Gibbs Racing team president J.D. Gibbs offered their perspective on the 2009 season.

“It kind of all went together and Denny’s confidence and his driving and realizing that he needed to take a leadership role in the team,” said Ford.  “Being able to work through issues, to me, is the difference and that was the strongest point to our season was gaining that unity. Moving forward, I think it allows you to try things.  We set up for the Chase, it wasn’t haphazard. If you look at the second half of the season, we hit a stride. We felt like we learned a couple things. We peaked early the last two years and we were kind of afraid to try things and that wasn’t the case this year. We continued to learn throughout, but we put ourselves in good position. I think everyone being on the same page and being able to work through problems, it made it a lot easier to make gains during the season.”

“What’s encouraging for our future and just watching Denny’s (Hamlin) and Mike’s (Ford, crew chief) leadership at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and the way they work together and don’t get panicky,” added Gibbs.  “We didn’t have the best car and the way that they make changes in the race and over the season, you’ll really see impressive things. Denny finished third in the first year. It kind of just came naturally. I think in the years since Denny would kind of push hard in some areas and tried some things you shouldn’t try. I think what we’ve kind of learned is they’ve been watching you guys kind of mature and really take a leadership role. I think Denny (Hamlin) was in the sport and Mike (Ford, crew chief) we put in our shop and really the future is exciting for us. I think really both of those guys work well together. They’re quiet and they’re not going to talk a lot about stuff. They just kind of get it done.”

Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch ran a close second to the #11 as the laps counted down contact with the wall saw him ultimately finish eighth on the night.  Joey Logano capped an excellent rookie season and clinched the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award with a 24th-place finish.

Following struggles in qualifying, Hamlin was forced to start Sunday’s Ford 400 from the 38th spot on the grid.  With his work cut out for him, and a great car beneath him, Hamlin set about methodically working his way forward from the drop of the green flag.

By lap 36 Hamlin was running comfortable in 22nd place when the team had their first chance to work on the car during a green flag pit stop on lap 52 for four tires, fuel and a slight wedge adjustment.  It turned out to be the first of several extremely quick stops on the night and the team sent Hamlin out to cycle through in 19th place.

The first caution of the night flew on lap 82 with Hamlin running 17th and the team took advantage of the break to make a wedge adjustment and remove a spring rubber from the left rear.  Despite the significant changes, the team worked fast and managed to get Hamlin out to restart 19th.

What transpired next certainly framed the evening for the #11 team.  Knowing his car was better early in the runs, Hamlin charged forward from the restart and, over 16 green flag laps, drove from 19th place all the way to sixth by the time the caution flag flew on lap 101.   The big gains ultimately set Hamlin up to spend the rest of the evening in the top five.

After taking the lead on a lap 160 pit stop Hamlin had clean air and still proved to be the dominant car on restarts as he pulled away for 20 laps before Kurt Busch and Jeff Burton caught and passed the #11.  Hamlin would hold the third spot until the caution flag came out again on lap 194, but once again the team responded with another quick stop and Hamlin would hold the lead for the restart.

Fighting a car that was tight in the center for the next run, Hamlin dropped back to fourth place before the caution on lap 217 and he would restart in fifth on lap 222.

From that point forward, Hamlin caught and passed Burton, then Kurt Busch before setting his sights on then leader Kyle Busch.   He made the pass on his teammate on lap 223, and then withstood a furious challenge over the final segment to claim his eighth career Cup win.