Hamlin Barely Misses Top-Ten BGN Finish at Kansas

Having set a pretty good baseline earlier at the test several weeks ago, the #20 car just did not respond to the direction the team was taking it. After struggling in the first practice, the team made several serious changes to the machine for the afternoon practice. Remaining in the 30’s on the speed chart, the team rolled the dice and overhauled the car a second time for qualifications. Unsure of what the car had, Hamlin tiptoed around the track scoring a lap good enough to start in the 31 st position.

“We have been fighting a tight race car since we unloaded,” commented Hamlin after his qualifying lap. “This new set up was a little loose off the corner, but it felt pretty good. I took the first lap kind of easy, because I wasn’t sure what we had and was a little conservative on the second lap. Unfortunately, the track is only going to get faster and going early hurt us.”

Saturday morning the teams made their final adjustments on the race cars and then they were rolled out to the starting grid. Hamlin was confident in his car on the track and his crew to pick up some spots on pit road. As the race began, Hamlin used the first couple laps to let the field settle in and then began working his way to the front. Gaining 10 positions in the first 30 laps, Hamlin used a caution on lap 30 to come in and work on “a tight into the corner” and “a loose off the corner condition.” A great stop turned in by the #20 team returned Hamlin to the track in the 18 th position.

Racing hard for the next 40 laps, Hamlin radioed in that he needed some more help especially getting off the corner. On his next stop, Barraclough called for four tires and a track bar adjustment. After another great stop, Hamlin was able to pick up five positions on pit road and restart in the 16 th position. The car was better, but still needed more help. After a long green flag run, Hamlin benefited from a much need caution to continue to work on the car. With some more heavy changes thrown at the #20 machine, it was ready for its run to the end.

Hamlin restarted on lap 129 in the 17th position. As the laps continued to click off, Hamlin started picking off his competitors one at a time. Running 11 th by lap 150, he finally entered the top-ten just five laps after that. Comfortably running in the 9 th position on lap 182, the caution flew for a single car incident. Left with only a handful of laps and 21 cars on the lead lap, the team was stuck with a difficult decision. The car had fuel to go to the end but the tires had over 60 laps on them and surely teams running behind them would come for fresh rubber. At the last second, Barraclough called for Hamlin to bring the car to pit road for four tires. Hamlin would drop to 16 th as several cars behind him did not pit or only chose to take two tires.

After the race restarted, there was a quick caution, but Hamlin used the final six laps to claw his way through traffic and finish in the 12 th position. With his finish, Hamlin was able to extend his fifth place advantage in the NASCAR Busch Series Drivers Points to 49.

“If you would have offered me a 12th place finish yesterday (Friday), I would have gladly taken it,” said Hamlin following the race. “But now, I am little disappointed. We took a car that just would not work yesterday and made it a top ten car today. It took half the race to get it where we wanted it, but once we did, it had no problem keeping position. We were in a tough position on the final stop. At the end of the day, I think we made the right decision.”

The Busch Series will return to action on Friday, October 14 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC. The Dollar General 300 is scheduled to start at 8:00 p.m. and be broadcast on TNT.