“We’ve kind of been preaching and beating up how we are on all the other racetracks. You know, coming to this racetrack you know it’s an equalizer and you’ve got as good a shot as anyone. You’ve got to take advantage of these moments and these type of racetracks when you feel like you’re a little bit off on the others, and so we were able to do that today, and now it buys us some time to get our program where it needs to be for September when it really counts.”
So far this season, Denny Hamlin hasn’t had the year that he has wanted with only two top-fives and three top-10s in the first 10 races of the season. Hamlin actually missed the fifth race of the year at Fontana due to a piece of metal in his eye.
While it’s not common for Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing to struggle; it seems to be the fixture now this year as they haven’t found what their Toyotas quite need yet with the new rule package.
For a situation of this nature, the new Chase format works in Hamlin’s favor. He now has his win and is virtually locked into the 2014 Chase for the Championship. For the next 15 races, Hamlin and team can experiment and try things in hopes of finding what his No. 11 FedEx Toyota needs to compete up front with the likes of Jeff Gordon, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick.
In theory, Hamlin isn’t missing much as the cars haven’t been that bad as they’ve contended for top-five finishes. They’ve just fallen out of contention due to mistakes – more specifically, Hamlin speeding on pit road a pair of those weeks.
“Those are momentum crushers,” he commented. “Those things can really bug you, and I sent an email — we had an email chain with myself and Darian and we were talking about we’re willing to do whatever it takes to make this better because it’s very frustrating to run top 10 and top 5 all day, and we’ve been finishing right around 20th for three weeks in a row. I mean, that really can take its toll on the team. Morale can get down very easy when you run great for 480 miles and you blow it all away in the last 20.”
Hamlin added that he took full responsibility for those weeks, and feels that working his way to the front at Talladega and earning the win is a way for his team to start over fresh.
“We don’t have to hit the panic button at this point,” Hamlin continued. “Now we can just focus on working on our program, doing whatever it takes to get ourselves in contention where we’re a top 5 car every week because that’s what it’s going to take to win the championship.”
While it looks good on Hamlin’s part, some people have questioned the ‘what if’ scenario. What if the caution hadn’t come out on the last lap due to the debris? What if Greg Biffle could’ve made the pass?
Hamlin believes that he still would’ve won had they raced back to the checkered line, and used the Daytona 500 as an example.
“I’ve been in these situations at Daytona, and I was the second car with Jr. in the 500, and you can’t pass him,” he commented.” Really as long as you block that guy’s line, and really you know when they’re coming and you can anticipate it, it’s tough. This aero package is really tough to pass without getting a big push and multiple cars on the outside of you for help.
“He probably was going to back off and get a run, but if he did that, I was going to back up right to him. It was going to be tough. I liked where we were at, and trust me, if we would have went to the finish, I still would have rather had my position than his.”
Did Hamlin ever get married and give that child a name?
At least Bowyer is doing the right thing and giving his a name.
Thank them both for not having abortions.