DENNY HAMLIN — #11 FEDEX FREIGHT TOYOTA CAMRY
RACE INFO: Event: Kobalt Tools 500
Date/Time: Nov. 13/1 p.m. MT
2010 winner: Carl Edwards
2010 polesitter: Carl Edwards
Distance: 312 laps/312 miles
Track Length: 1-mile Banking: 9/11 degrees
Track Shape: Oval
EXPRESS NOTES: Texas Recap: Denny Hamlin finished 20th in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, Round 8 of the 2011 Chase for the championship. Hamlin battled an ill-handling #11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry throughout the 334-lap, 501-mile event won by Tony Stewart, as a persistent loose condition prohibited him from defending his race win at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth oval from one year ago. The #11 machine started 28th on Sunday afternoon, but Hamlin immediately felt handling issues at the drop of the green flag. Fighting a loose race car in corner entry and exit, but tight in the center of the corners, he worked hard throughout the first few green flag runs to maintain pace with the lead group. A variety of changes during pit stops called by crew chief Mike Ford tried to bring the car to life, but fixing one issue seemed to make another worse as the laps clicked. Making matters worse, contact on pit road with Brad Keselowski with less than 75 laps to go dropped Hamlin from the top-15 to the tail end of the lead lap field after repairs on pit road. Varying fuel strategies in the race’s final stages moved Hamlin up to 20th for the checkered flag. With the finish, Hamlin improved one spot to 10th in the NASCAR point standings following Texas, with two races remaining on the schedule.
Phoenix Preview: The penultimate race of the 2011 season is Sunday at the newly-configured Phoenix International Raceway (PIR). New asphalt and a more pronounced backstretch dogleg have completely changed the racing line at the one-mile desert oval for the FedEx Racing team, which tested at PIR in early October. Hamlin is making his 13th career start at Phoenix this weekend, looking to improve on his 11.6 average finishing position at the track — fifth-best among active drivers. The 30-year-old Virginian has six top-six finishes in 12 Phoenix starts, including four third-place results — in the spring 2007 and 2008 events and fall 2006 and 2009 races. Hamlin started 12th and finished 11th at PIR earlier this year, leading twice for nine laps. In that race, the #11 Camry was at its best early in the race, when Hamlin drove to the front at the drop of the green flag to take the lead on Lap 32. Track position was vital and passing was at a premium, so a loose race car on restarts kept Hamlin from challenging for the lead in the second half of the race, spending the majority of the day in the back half of the top-10.
HAMLIN CONVERSATION – Phoenix International Raceway: What do you think of the new track at Phoenix? “I think it will be a fun race track. Driving it (during the test), it is a lot different than any other course we’ve ever kind of been on before with the elevation changes and things like that. I think it will take it a while for it to be a racy track in the sense of two-wide or three-wide racing. I think that’s going to be years and years down the road. They were at a point where the track was falling apart so they had to do something about it. Goodyear is trying to give us the best tire possible but not let us run too fast and not wearing out tires. They’ve had to put us on a hard tire there. We’ve seen in the past, hard tires and new asphalt makes for treacherous racing and I think that’s why people consider Phoenix somewhat of a wild card because you could be caught up in an accident pretty easy on a restart.”
2011 FEDEX RACING – TEAM ROSTER
Crew Chief: Mike Ford – Morristown, Tenn. Front Tire Changer: Nick Krizmanich – Kenosha, Wis. Car Chief: Chris “Spider” Gillin – Smithtown, N.Y. Front Tire Carrier: Brandon Pegram – Statesville, N.C. Engineer: Mike Wheeler – Southholt, N.Y. Rear Tire Changer: Mike Hicks – Salisbury, N.C. Shocks: Drew Bible – Coldwater, Mich. Rear Tire Carrier: Heath Cherry – Belmont, N.C. Tire Specialist: Patrick Mullen – Brick, N.J. Jackman: Nate Bolling – Swanton, Ohio Engine Tuner: Chris Woodward – Franklin, N.H. Gas Man: Scott Wood – Liberty, S.C. Mechanic: Rick Bray – Placerville, Calif. Pit Crew Coordinator: Paul Alepa – Vienna, Va. Mechanic: John Furino – Long Island, N.Y. JGR Athletic Director: Michael Lepp – Charlotte, N.C. Spotter: Curtis Markham – Fredericksburg, Va.
Hauler Driver: Jerry Hess – Lancaster, Pa. Hauler Driver: Frank Hodel – Blythe, Calif.
