Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Ground placed 12th in Sunday’s Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway – a good run for the team but a result that doesn’t do justice to the effort put forth by the team to consistently improve the car over the course of a long Sprint Cup weekend.


After qualifying 22nd on Friday, the team worked diligently during both Saturday practice sessions to make the car better and the results were immediate.  Come race day, however, the work would continue in earnest.  From that start of the Samsung 500 when Hamlin radioed in the car was “loose,” through a first stop that upset the balance of the car, to the final lap of the race – Hamlin and the FedEx Racing crew tried just about everything to make the car more competitive and give Hamlin a shot at the leaders.  Through strong work by the team, a solid drive and some attrition across the field, Hamlin worked his way up to 12th place, his highest running position of the race, by the time the checkered flag waved. 


“Our car was pretty good until that first green flag pit stop and I wheel hopped it real, real bad getting on pit road and just couldn’t ever recover,”  said Hamlin  “It hurt the rear end pretty bad.  From that point I couldn’t  let all the way out of the gas or I was going to spin out.  It’s a shame for the FedEx Ground team but we salvaged something out of it.  We had a broken race car.  I felt like and we at least finished the race and got a descent finish out of it. We had high hopes coming into today and we felt like we were going to be a car that could contend for a win.  I felt like we were coming through the pack, taking our time coming through there, but the first pit stop had a driver mistake.”


Jeff Gordon broke a  47-race winless streak and earned his 82nd-career Sprint Cup win Sunday when he took the checkered flag.  Jimmie Johnson came in second while Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth filled out the top five.  Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and rookie Joey Logano finished 18th and 30th , respectively.


The result sees Hamlin drop one place to sixth in the Sprint Cup standings heading into the off weekend.  The Cup Series picks up again in two weeks time when the teams visit Phoenix, Ariz. and Phoenix International Raceway.


Hamlin drove off from the 22nd spot on the grid Sunday and started the battle with a loose #11 FedEx Toyota that would last  the entire day.  The uncharacteristically long stretches of green flag racing did not help the situation – the first yellow didn’t wave until lap 96 – and the team was unable to work on the #11 until the end of the long fuel run.  Hamlin’s pit road experience also started with frustration as he was unable to work his way down the track to the pit apron successfully on lap 52 so he made his first visit stop on lap 53 for four tires and Sunoco fuel.  Hamlin re-entered the race in 15th position.


Two laps after the first yellow on lap 96, Hamlin pitted for four tires, fuel, some tape on the nose of the car to tighten the car up, and a wedge adjustment.  While his stop might have been fast it didn’t gain him any positions as the #77 car of Sam Hornish stopped short in his pit and blocked Hamlin’s exit.  Hamlin would leave pit road after losing two spots and restart in the 17th position.


By lap 100 of the 334-lap event Hamlin had gained a single spot on the track and was running in16th place, though he continued to fight a loose car.  He fought his way up tp 13th place before pitting for a the third time on the afternoon and the FedEx crew went to work, making quick adjustments on lap 155.   Only ten laps into the ensuing run, Hamlin reported that the balance of the #11 was off but he continued to hold his own. 


With 200 laps in the books Hamlin ran in 15th place behind then leaders Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart.  Ten laps later, he made his fourth pit stop of the afternoon and the crew turned a lightening fast stop to send him out in 14th place.  As the laps counted down,  Hamlin ran as high as 12th and as low as 17th as he continued to battle the  loose car, lapped traffic and a vibration in the rear of the car.  A frustrating day came to end with Hamlin in twelfth and already looking forward to a week off before a trip west to Phoenix – a place where he’s narrowly missed winning in the past.