Hamlin Uses Top Ten Finish to Move Up in Busch Series Points

The team spent all day Thursday with inspection and two practice sessions. During the first practice session, Hamlin looked strong in race trim and posted a quick time in the top ten on the speed chart. During the second session the team focused mainly on qualifying trim and struggled. With qualifying on Friday afternoon, it was going to be interesting to see how the changes affected the race car. Hamlin posted a solid lap and secured the 10 th starting position.

“I probably could have driven it in a little harder,” commented Hamlin following his lap. “The car seemed to get a lot more grip today than it did yesterday. Most of the cars reported the track loose, but ours wasn’t. We ran our best lap since we have been here, so I am pleased.”

On Saturday morning, a front moved into the area cooling temperatures down to the 70’s with clouds that threatened rain. As the cars took the green flag, it did not take long for the action to heat up. Coming off of turn two on lap 1, contact between the 11 car and 17 car occurred and in the end 13 cars were involved in the first accident of the day. After a long cleanup period the race was restarted for four more laps of green flag racing until the next caution of the day this time collecting 8 cars. With only 28 cars still running on the track, the field was easily spread out for a long green flag run.

Hamlin settled into the ninth position and continued to run lap times consistent with the cars in the top five. As the fuel began to burn off from the back of the car, Hamlin reported in the car was tight especially in the center of the corner and all the way through the exit. Hamlin remained in the 9 th position until lap 95 when he ducked to pit road to make a regularly scheduled stop. Changing four tires & fuel, the #20 team returned Hamlin to the track in the 12 th position, but he quickly moved up to the 8th spot as the rest of the cars cycled through their stops.

Running in the 8th position, Hamlin was quickly gaining time on the leaders. Reporting the car was a little loose early in the run, it was starting to settle in after 20 laps into the run. As the car began running some of the fastest times of the day, the field saw the third caution flag of the day on lap 120 for debris on the backstretch. Following the leaders to pit road for tires and adjustments, the #20 team had a great stop returning Hamlin to the track in the 6 th position.

As the race restarted, Hamlin settled into the fifth position until lap 152, when he surrendered the position to Jason Leffler. Hamlin benefited from a flat tire from second place Martin Truex, Jr, who was forced to pit with less than 10 laps remaining. Hamlin would finish the race 6 th on the same lap as the leader. He would also gain enough driver points to move up to fifth place in the NASCAR Busch Series Standings.

“It was a pretty good day for us,” commented Hamlin following the race. “The car handled really well all day. The adjustments Cully (Barraclough) called for made the car better each stop. The guys on pit road were excellent and picked up several positions for us. I really wanted to finish in the top five, but it seemed each lap I would gain something on the 66 car (Greg Biffle), he would gain it back on the next lap.”

The NASCAR Busch Series will be off again this weekend, before heading to Kansas Speedway for the United Way 300. The race is scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on NBC.