FedEx Racing Express Facts – Pocono Raceway
Denny Hamlin
#11 FedEx Ground Toyota
Joe Gibbs Racing
Race Info:
Race: Overton’s 400
Date/Time: July 30/3 PM ET
Distance: 160 Laps/400 Miles
Track Length: 2.5 miles
Track Shape: Triangle
2016 Winner: Ryan Blaney
Express Notes:
Indianapolis Recap: Denny Hamlin finished 17th in Sunday’s Brickyard 400, surviving a bevy of late-race cautions before contact on the penultimate restart caused significant damage to the #11 FedEx Cares Toyota and relegated him to a 17th-place finish in the event won by Kasey Kahne. Hamlin lined up fourth behind Kahne during the race’s first overtime restart. Kahne spun his tires as Hamlin tried to push him out to the lead, but the field bunched behind him, and a spinning Trevor Bayne clipped Hamlin’s left-rear. The ensuing caution gave the team time to assess the damage, and they decided to keep Hamlin on the track for the final restart. Unfortunately, the left-rear damage proved to be more detrimental than anticipated, and a wreck on the backstretch ended Hamlin’s day just before the finish.
Hamlin started the event fifth before a nearly two-hour red flag for rain. When the race resumed, Hamlin made slight contact with Ryan Newman on pit road and had to pit multiple times for repairs. Crew chief Mike Wheeler worked the rest of the race to regain the lost track position, and a long green-flag run in the final segment looked to pay off with a top-five finish before the series of late-race wrecks.
Pocono Preview: The Series returns to Pocono Raceway this Sunday for its second visit to the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania raceway this season. Hamlin is the winningest active driver at Pocono, notching four wins in 23 starts at the Tricky Triangle, two of which he scored back-to-back during his rookie season in 2006. Hamlin finished 12th after starting 18th for the 400-mile race at Pocono in June earlier this year.
Delivering Laps for FedEx Cares: This season, FedEx is tying the performance of the #11 FedEx Toyota on the track to its efforts to improve road safety through a new program, Delivering Laps for FedEx Cares, by donating $111 for each lap Hamlin leads and $11,000 for each race victory to Safe Kids Worldwide, a nonprofit working to protect kids on the road, at home, and at play. FedEx will also contribute $111,000 to Safe Kids if the #11 team wins the 2017 NASCAR championship.
To date, Denny has led 232 laps and captured one win, and FedEx has donated $36,752 to Safe Kids through the Delivering Laps for FedEx Cares program. Fans can track the total amount donated to date from the Delivering Laps for FedEx Cares program on the homepage of FedExRacing.com.
Hamlin Statistics:
Track: Pocono Raceway
Races: 23
Wins: 4
Top-5: 9
Top-10: 14
Poles: 3
Average Start: 7.3
Average Finish: 12.1
Laps Led: 670
Hamlin Conversation – POCONO:
Is there anything your team learned during the June race at Pocono that will help you this weekend?
“Last time we were in Pocono, our pit strategy got the best of us, and we came up just short of a top-10 finish. We couldn’t predict that late caution in Stage 2, and it definitely cost us valuable track position. Still, our #11 FedEx team has obviously continued to gain the speed we were looking for this season, so I think we head back to Pocono with a solid opportunity to contend for a win. Our goal is to continue putting together the best program we can to keep collecting as many Playoff points as we can.”
FedEx Ground’s Midwest District Along for the Ride at Pocono: FedEx Ground’s Midwest district will be recognized at Pocono Raceway by having its “MWST” code letters on the b-post of the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota this weekend at the Tricky Triangle.
#11 FedEx Racing – 2017 Crew Roster
Crew Chief – Mike “Wheels” Wheeler
Car Chief – Leo Thorsen
Engineers – Justin Langdon, Sam McAuley
Shock Specialist – Drew Bible
Tire Specialist – Kerry Ferris
Mechanics – Tony Hamm, Scott Eldridge, Sean Kerlin
Spotter – Chris Lambert
Front Tire Changer: Dustin Necaise
Front Tire Carrier: Brandon Pegram
Rear Tire Changer: Mike Hicks
Rear Tire Carrier: Ben Fischbeck
Jack Man: Nate Bolling
Gas Man: Caleb Hurd
Transportation – Frank Hodel, Josh Collins
