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[/media-credit]RACE INFO: Event: Subway Fresh Fit 500
Date/Time: March 3/1:00 p.m. MT
2011 winner: Jeff Gordon
2011 polesitter: Carl Edwards
Distance: 312 laps/312 miles
Track Length: one-mile
Banking: 9/11 degrees
Track Shape: Oval
EXPRESS NOTES: Daytona 500 Recap: Denny Hamlin led a race-high 57 (of 202) laps in Monday’s rain-postponed Daytona 500, finishing fourth in the #11 FedEx Express Toyota for his best-career result in the ‘Great American Race.’ Hamlin restarted third behind eventual winner Matt Kenseth for a two-lap “green-white-checkered” overtime finish on the 2.5-mile high-banked oval, but was never able to link up with another car in the draft to challenge for the victory. Hamlin started 31st but early strategy calls by new FedEx Racing team crew chief Darian Grubb moved the #11 machine into the top-five. A pair of early cautions brought the majority of cars to pit road for service, but Grubb elected to keep Hamlin on the track to gain the track position. The 31-year-old Chesterfield, Va., native took the lead for the first time on Lap 17, and led the next 24 laps. Maintaining a spot in the top-10 throughout the race’s midpoint, Hamlin showed that the #11 FedEx Camry was one of the cars to beat as he could make both the low and high lines work in the draft. He led laps 102-129 and 139-143. In a bizarre scene, the race was red-flagged for more than two hours on Lap 160 when a part broke on Juan Pablo Montoya’s car under caution, sending him spinning into a service truck that was cleaning the track, which burst into flames. NASCAR had to remove the truck and repair the track. Hamlin restarted ninth following the red flag period, and worked the outside line to move back into the top-five as the laps clicked. Two multi-car incidents with less than 15 laps to go set up the “green-white-checkered” finish. Hamlin leaves Daytona in a three-way tie for second place in the NASCAR standings with Earnhardt Jr. and Biffle, five points behind Kenseth after the first race of the season.
Phoenix Preview: The Sprint Cup Series shifts to Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) this weekend for Sunday’s 312-lap event on the recently reconfigured one-mile desert oval. Hamlin is making his 14th Cup start at PIR, and second on the newly-paved — and slightly changed — surface. The track was repaved following last year’s spring race with the backstretch extended. The #11 FedEx team finished 12th at Phoenix last fall after starting 33rd. Hamlin battled a tight condition in the #11 machine throughout the event as the team went through a variety of adjustments to keep up with the changing track conditions. Hamlin has recorded five top-five finishes in 13 starts at PIR, including career-best third-place runs in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. He recorded his first-career pole award in his first visit to Phoenix in November 2005. Hamlin also spent this past off-season in the Phoenix-area, living in Scottsdale.
Redmond, Wash. Center Along for the Ride in Phoenix: The FedEx Office center in Redmond, Wash., will be recognized with its center numbers “5152” on the b-post of the #11 FedEx Office Toyota this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. The center is a leading team in the annual FedEx President’s Club program, and attributes success to their focus on customer service.
HAMLIN CONVERSATION – Phoenix: What do you like about Phoenix and what did you do out there this off-season? “What I liked the most about it in the winter was the weather. It’s 75 (degrees) there every day. For me, it was just kind of like a vacation spot, but I just stayed out there an extended period of time. They have some great golf courses, great shopping and dining. It’s just really got everything because it’s a relatively new town and city. For me, of all the places I would want to go on vacation, I would pick there. I just spent my off season there because of that.”
Will the race this time be similar to November? “I think it will be a little bit better than November. I thought that the surface raced better than we thought it was going to race right off the bat. During testing I think I was very worried about how the race was going to be there. I think the time we got on it, the rubber that laid down — it raced better than expected. I think that it will still be two to three years before we see really good side-by-side racing there, but they had to make changes. The track was just coming apart.”
Does Phoenix become a second home track? “Thinking about it — now I do have a little bit of a different outlook. I’ll have more people and friends that I normally wouldn’t have at that race track coming out to visit. There’s a lot of baseball players that I met that are in spring training that are going to come down and watch. It will have a little bit of a home track feel.”
2012 FEDEX RACING TEAM – SEASON RESULTS DATE EVENT LOCATION
START FINISH LAPS STATUS WINNINGS LED PTS TREND
Feb. 27 Daytona 500 Daytona 31 4 202/202 Running $702,091 57 4th ▬
