Denny Hamlin - Food City 250 pre-race notes and quotes

EVENT: FOOD CITY 250 DATE: AUGUST 25, 2006
TRACK: BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY TV: TNT 7:50 PM ET
LAPS/MILES: 250 / 133.25 RADIO: PRN 7:30 PM ET

QUOTES

Driver Denny Hamlin on racing at Bristol…

“Friday is going to be a busy day for me. With two Busch Practices, two Cup practices, Busch qualifying, Cup qualifying and the Busch Race, I may run more laps around here on Friday than on Saturday. The toughest thing about double duty is remembering that you are in two totally different cars. Once you leave one car, you have to give your feedback to the crew chief and then mentally clean the slate before strapping into the next car.

Bristol is one of those special tracks that drivers hope to visit victory lane. Because to win here, you not only need a good car, but you also need to protect your track position and not get caught up in someone else’s mess. There is nothing that I enjoy more than when they turn the lights on and we get to have a little Friday night short track action. ”
Crew Chief Dave Rogers on “the World’s Fastest Half Mile”….

“Bristol is one of those places that make a Crew Chief and Fabricator just cringe. The racing is so tight and aggressive that often you are involved in accidents that are not of your making. Fortunately, aerodynamics is not critical to success at this track, but you must take care of your fenders. Track position will also be real important. This will put a lot of pressure on the guys on pit road to make good stops and keep us up front. Denny is an extremely talented short track driver, so I am pretty confident going into this.”

NOTES

New Positions in Pit Crew …This week, front tire changer Tim “Poptart” Sheets will be switched to rear tire changer and car chief & front tire changer Rick Bray will be changing the front tires. Both tire carriers will remain the same. “Our stops have been a little flat lately,” commented Sheets. “We have experimented with this during pit stop practice and had pretty good results. Rick and I have been changing the same tires on the same car for the last four years, so maybe mixing it up will be good for everyone.”

Triad Packaging … On the decklid this weekend is associate sponsor Triad Packaging. Triad Packaging is a long time associate on the #20 car celebrating it’s fourth year in NASCAR Busch Series Racing. Triad Packaging, headquartered in Bristol, TN, provides its customers unique and cost effective packaging solutions.

Car History … This week the #20 team is bringing car #2049. This car has been rebuilt since last year with a new clip and new 2006 Monte Carlo SS body and is one of the more popular cars in the shop. This car has been to Victory Lane at Charlotte (Fall – 2004) and won the pole position the following week at Atlanta. The first run of the 2006 season was at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where it qualified 2 nd and finished 6th . After that, the car was redesigned for concrete tracks and taken to the spring Bristol race where Hamlin qualified 7 th and finished 4th . This car also ran at Dover where it qualified 4th and finished 7 th.