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Thirty Five Down, One to Go – Hamlin, FedEx Racing Third at Phoenix
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AVONDALE, AZ (November 13, 2006) - Denny Hamlin put his impressive Championship credentials on display Sunday afternoon at Phoenix International Raceway, driving the #11 FedEx Ground Chevrolet to a third-place finish in the penultimate race of the 2006 season.
For Hamlin and team, it marked a third consecutive top-ten finish and their seventh top-five finish of the season. However, despite the great run, Jimmie Johnson’s second-place finish increased the point gap and the Nextel Cup rookie now finds himself in fourth place, 90 points back, heading to the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend.
“To come here and not qualify where we wanted but fight back and finish third adds up to a great day for the FedEx team,” said Hamlin. “We battled back there at the end and had a really good car on the long runs, but we didn’t get any long runs when we needed them. We knew what we had to do coming to Phoenix and that was to go out there, control what we could on the track, and run a really good race start to finish. We did that today and, unfortunately for us, so did Jimmie.”
“We’re not out of this Chase yet but it will take some extraordinary luck to win it. Either way, we are heading to Homestead in a week to celebrate was has been an incredible season for this #11 FedEx team. We are running right there with the best drivers and best teams and we feel we are holding our own – that says a lot about this team.”
Kevin Harvick held off Johnson following a lap 308 restart to take the checkered flag and is now tied with Hamlin in the Chase standings. Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards rounded out Sunday’s top five.
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Joe Gibbs Racing’s Tony Stewart and J.J. Yeley both recorded top-twenty results, finishing 14th and 20th, respectively.
An early qualifying draw saw Hamlin and Johnson both start deep in the field Sunday. It was clear, however, that both had cars capable of moving forward quickly and within 30 laps Hamlin drove the #11 Chevy into the top-15. On lap 58 Hamlin passed Kyle Busch for a place in the top-ten.
The long green flag run from the start of the race brought the best out of the FedEx car and showed the #11 would be a car to beat on Sunday. Hamlin’s times late in runs were as good as any and throughout the day the team hoped there would be few interruptions.
The first caution of the day flew on lap 71 for debris on the track and with Hamlin sharing only that he needed a little more forward bite, crew chief Mike Ford called Hamlin onto pit road for a slight air pressure adjustment.
After four tires and fuel, Hamlin lined up to restart seventh on lap 77.
Following the caution, Hamlin showed his patience as he calmly drove the #11 past Jamie McMurray for sixth and then passed Jeff Gordon for fourth. By the time Hamlin passed Kasey Kahne for fourth on lap 119, he had made up 18 spots since the start.
As he continued to post some of the fastest times on the track, Hamlin notified the crew that he needed just a little help getting through the center better but overall the car was handling very well. As the lead pack caught lapped traffic, Hamlin went three wide on lap 139 to pass Carl Edwards and claim third place.
The second caution of the day came out on lap 149 and Hamlin pulled the #11 on to pit road for another air pressure adjustment, a wedge adjustment, four tires and fuel. After restarting third, Hamlin did his best to hold off Gordon and Edwards but his slightly slower lap times made it impossible.
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After a caution on lap 186, Hamlin let the crew know he had lost overall grip and was still concerned about the lack of speed after restarts. Ford called for the crew to essentially reverse the previous changes and the FedEx crew got Hamlin out in sixth for the restart on lap 194.
Johnson caught and passed Hamlin for sixth three laps later and Hamlin held the seventh position until the caution flag flew again on lap 226.
The caution for a backstretch accident kicked off a seven-caution string that wouldn’t allow the race to stay green for more than 20 laps until the end of the race – unwelcome news for the #11 team as the car was still best deep into the runs.
Hamlin restarted seventh on lap 230 and worked his way up one spot before the next caution flew on lap 252. On pit road for air pressure and wedge adjustments, he would line up ninth for the restart on lap 258.
With the race being interrupted for cautions at a rate of one every ten laps, Hamlin slowly picked his way through the field, taking one car at a time while negotiating lapped traffic on the inside lane. It seemed as just when Hamlin would clear the traffic, the caution would come out again.
At the 300 lap mark, Hamlin had passed Mark Martin and Carl Edwards but yet another caution would freeze the field, and this time force the competitors to line up on the front stretch under a red flag while the track was cleared. After an eight-minute delay they were told to crank their engines and follow the pace car for two laps before taking the green flag for a three lap shootout.
Hamlin started behind Gordon but managed to pass for third on lap 310 and would take the checkered flag in that position to capture his 17th Raybestos Rookie of the Race award and stay in contention for the Nextel Cup Championship heading to Florida next week.
Hamlin on the Chase for the Nextel Cup:
“As far as the Championship, we aren’t going to change how we approach next weekend. “We are behind in the points so all we can do is prepare like we do every week and take our best car and best effort to Homestead. Wherever we leave there in the points, we are really happy with the season and proud of what we accomplished. We hope to be fighting for a Championship for years to come and I am sure the experience of this season will help us get there.”
Crew Chief Mike Ford on the day at Phoenix:
“To come home third, I think that’s about what we were today. We made some gains on it there at the end and would like to have been able to line up with the top two and see what we could do with them. I think we could run with them much better than we could have earlier.”
Ford on heading to Homestead:
“The only strategy you can ever have in racing is to come in and try to win and that’s what we’re trying to do. We got close today and we’re taking a good car next week and we’re just going to do the best we can. We had a good test down there a month or so ago and we’re looking to build on that.”