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Hamlin Wheels FedEx Ground Toyota Camry to Fifth Place Finish in Samsung 500

FT. WORTH, TX (April 7, 2008) - From the onset of Sunday's Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, it was clear Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing racing team had a car capable of running with the leaders. Hamlin moved up quickly from his starting position of 14th, charging into the top ten before his first pit stop on lap 28. By the fourth pit stop of the day on lap 133, Hamlin had moved into the top five and was well on his way to bringing the #11 FedEx Ground Camry home with an impressive fifth place finish. Building on the momentum of a win at Martinsville only one week ago, the top-five run at Texas has the team putting early season struggles in the rear-view mirror.

By virtue of his fifth place finish, Hamlin moved up one position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points to seventh. Currently, Hamlin with 913 points is just 152 markers behind points leader Jeff Burton.

It was a very good day for Joe Gibbs Racing as all three teams turned in stellar performances. In addition to Hamlin's fifth-place finish, Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart finished third and seventh, respectively. It marked the first time Joe Gibbs Racing has had all three drivers in the top-10 in a race since the September, 2007 race at Richmond International Raceway. Busch sits third in Cup points and Stewart is in fifth in the Race for the Chase.

As is normally the case in NASCAR, a 500 mile race wasn't decided for the #11 team until the final lap. Hamlin was running fourth when the final caution out of the day flew to bunch the lead cars for the green-white-checkered finish. Faced with running out the remaining three laps or pitting for tires, the #11 team choose to keep the valuable track position. The move paid dividends as he was able to hold his position despite cars tacking up as the green flag waved, forcing Hamlin to withstand intense pressure coming from the cars on fresh rubber behind him. It looked as though Hamlin would claim the fourth spot on the day but, as he made his final turn onto the front stretch, he was pinched to the outside wall by Clint Bowyer. Having no where to go he was forced to turn left and down into Bowyer as Ryan Newman snuck past Hamlin leaving him in the fifth spot.

“It was a tough decision,” reflected Hamlin. “In the place where we were at, you don’t know whether it’s right or wrong. Mike (Ford, crew chief) made the call and I was with it. It felt like we had a third-to-fourth place car there at the end and ended up fifth. I just don’t think we had the car to win the race anyway, but we'll take a top-five finish and head to Phoenix with some momentum."
Following the race an exhausted Hamlin was taken to the infield care center where he was given fluids, an IV and iced down.

“Clint just pinched me up there on the final lap,” said Hamlin. “I had to turn left or I'd have gone into the wall. There's really no place to go. I didn’t feel well (during the race). It’s just the heat, the long runs, so I’ll try to get better. I'm feeling much better now. It really hit me when I got out of the car. I was just really dizzy and knew I needed to sit down.”

Hamlin and the team worked all race long to tune in his Toyota Camry – fighting a push throughout the course of the afternoon as he battled his way through the field - ultimately working his way up to as high as third. Through numerous air pressure changes and track bar adjustments the FedEx team finally hit the right combination late in the race.

In his last five starts Hamlin has moved from 31st in points to seventh and has had four top-10 finishes, including his fourth career win last weekend at Martinsville.

“I'm glad for FedEx and JGR. We continue to move up in the points and Toyota gave us a good car today. I hope we continue to move up next week. That's always good. The FedEx car was hooked up in Phoenix last year and I hope we'll do well again next week.”

Next Saturday night in Phoenix Hamlin will be backed by FedEx Kinko’s and the March of Dimes as he continues to climb in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings and looks for his second win of the 2008 season.