Denny Hamlin
#11 FedEx Office Toyota
Joe Gibbs Racing
Race Info:
Race: AAA Texas 500
Date/Time: November 5/2:00 PM ET
Distance: 334 Laps/500 Miles
Track Length: 1.5 miles
Track Shape: Oval
Banking: 24 degrees
2016 Winner: Carl Edwards
Express Notes:
Martinsville Recap: Denny Hamlin finished seventh in Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, overcoming a mid-race pit road speeding penalty and overtime restart to collect his 20th top-10 finish of the 2017 NASCAR season in the #11 FedEx at Walgreens Toyota. During the final 240-lap Stage of Sunday’s 500-lap race, six cautions appeared which ultimately led to a thrilling dash to the finish as Hamlin and the remaining Playoffs drivers battled for the win and one of four guaranteed spots in the Championship 4. Hamlin lined up third for a restart with only six laps to go, making a bold move to quickly take over second behind Chase Elliott. Hamlin challenged Elliott for the lead, and as he looked to get the advantage rolling into the corner, the two made contact in Turn 1 sending Elliott spinning up the track. The caution from that incident led to an overtime restart with Hamlin leading the field to the green flag. Despite his best effort to thwart off pressure from his teammate Kyle Busch, Hamlin got loose after a quick bump with (Kyle) Busch, forcing him up the track. It appeared Hamlin would finish fourth, but a heated battled off turn 4 on the final lap got Hamlin loose once again, setting off a chain reaction and a multi-car pileup that had Hamlin sliding to the checkers and relegating him to a seventh-place finish. Following Sunday’s race, Hamlin drops two positions in the NASCAR Playoffs points standings to seventh, eight points below the cut-off line to the “Championship 4.”
Texas Preview: The Series heads to the ‘Lone Star State’ for the second race in the NASCAR Playoffs Round of 8 around the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway. In 23 starts at Texas, Hamlin has collected two wins and five top-five and 11 top-10 finishes. During the Series’ last Playoffs visit to the 1.5 oval, Hamlin finished ninth in the rain-shortened event. Hamlin is one-top five finish away from tying his career-best 15 top-five finishes in a single season (2009).
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 452 laps and captured two Cup Series wins, and FedEx has donated $72,172 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: Texas Motor Speedway
Races: 23
Wins: 2
Top-5: 5
Top-10: 11
Poles: 0
Average Start: 15.7
Average Finish: 12.6
Laps Led: 155
Hamlin Conversation – Texas:
With only two races remaining until the final NASCAR Playoffs cut-off race, what’s your strategy heading into Texas?
“Our number one goal continues to be to win. At this point, that’s our only guaranteed shot of making it into the Championship Four at Miami. We have had success in the past at Texas, and hopefully we can repeat that this weekend.”
#11 FedEx Racing – 2017 Crew Roster
Crew Chief – Mike “Wheels” Wheeler
Car Chief – Leo Thorsen
Engineers –Sam McAulay, Ryan Bowers
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
