It would seem obvious any driver in NASCAR’s highly competitive top-tier series who could storm the season with eight wins, would clinch the series title.
Denny Hamlin thought his first championship was within his grasp and he was ready to write his speech for the awards banquet, accept the ring and seven million dollar plus check along with the clout that goes with the title.
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[/media-credit]At the final race in Homestead in 2009, Hamlin made a promise to secure the championship in the next year or two. Going into the 2010 season he looked to be the favorite to unseat Jimmie Johnson as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion.
In January, prior to Speedweeks in Daytona, Hamlin tore his anterior cruciate ligament while playing basketball. He hoped to postpone surgery until the end of the year, but announced March 27th that he would have surgery after the March 29th race at Martinsville which he won handily.
Three weeks after surgery, Hamlin won the Texas race which was his second win in three races. It appeared a magic chip had been implanted during his knee surgery, as his winning ways continued.
Hamlin’s cup of confidence was spilling over. His statement of, “All we do is win,” seemed to hold a bit of truth despite the runs where he faltered.
Hamlin’s crew chief, Mike Ford, attempted to play mind games with Jimmie Johnson and his crew chief, Chad Knaus, by bragging that the No. 11 team was better than the No. 48 team. The Joe Gibbs Racing team felt so sure this was the year they would capture the series title.
Hamlin and Ford hit a pothole on their way down confidence road, when gas mileage caused the Fed Ex driver to have a bad day at Phoenix, the next to the last race.
After the race, the driver of the No. 11 said, “For me I guess I have to leave Phoenix in Phoenix. That’s the thing is you can’t let–I couldn’t control it. I did everything I was supposed to do today. Things didn’t work out for me.”
As all the teams prepared for the final race at Homestead, the two other contenders for the title besides Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson tried to break his confidence with comments intended to rattle him.
Hamlin led four-time champion, Jimmie Johnson, by eight points as they headed to Homestead. He blew off the pressure of winning and claimed he was used to it and even thrived on it. Hamlin had battled his way up through lower series and fought to become established as a relevant driver in NASCAR.
It appeared Hamlin might be in trouble when he qualified 37th for that all important final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Coming through the field should have been a problem, but Hamlin remained confident. He had done it before.
The Ford 400 at Homestead didn’t play out as Hamlin planned. Carl Edwards won the race, Jimmie Johnson won his fifth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship and Hamlin finished 14th, leaving him second in the point standings.
For Hamlin finishing second was worse than finishing fifth. It was a tough blow to him with his confidence bashed, he had to wing his way to Las Vegas and watch Jimmie Johnson’s ongoing celebratory festivities which included that ring and seven million dollar plus check.
Champions Week would be an agonizing series of reminders of “what ifs.” Hamlin said, “Just every award (Johnson) accepts, you think, I should have been in that position.”
Even Rick Hendrick saw his pain and tried to comfort Hamlin by saying, “ You will win your share, so you shouldn’t be beating yourself up so bad.”
Hendrick added, “ We’re proud of you, you did a heck of a job. It’s a shame anybody had to lose.”
Hamlin realizes that he has areas that need improvement with qualifying being one of them. He handled the pressure factor, but fumbled on pit road and with green flag stops.
The fact he lost to Johnson, who many consider a NASCAR great, is slightly comforting to Hamlin, but it doesn’t really lessen the pain of losing that title.
Mark Martin thought they had the momentum to possibly nail a championship in 2010, after finishing second to Johnson in 2009 when he captured his fourth consecutive title. As the 2010 season played out, he found his Hendrick Motorsports team just could not get up to speed.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. used the “lack of confidence” theory this year to justify his continuing less than stellar performance.
It has happened with other drivers who come off a season with a potential chance at the championship only to flounder the following year. Whether or not Hamlin can find his way past his confidence breaking loss is a question that will linger until the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup season unfolds.
Hamlin intended to return to his home base in North Carolina after Champions Week and meet with Mike Ford to begin regrouping for 2011.
For the sake of Hamlin, we can hope the contagion of crisis with confidence does not spread from the newly reorganized No. 88 team at Hendrick Motorsports to Hamlin’s No. 11 Fed Ex team at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Mark Martin planned a winning season in 2010, just as Hamlin plans his 2011 comeback to a championship. Competition will be tough once again and we shall see if Hamlin and his team handle the haunting “what ifs” and miscues that may not be as easily forgotten as Hamlin thinks.
