Denny Hamlin
#11 FedEx Express Toyota
Joe Gibbs racing
Race Info:
Race: Hollywood Casino 400
Date/Time: October 22/3PM ET
Distance: 267 laps/400 miles
Track Length: 1.5 miles
Track Shape: Tri-Oval
Banking: Turns: 17-20°; Straights 5-11°
2016 Winner: Kevin Harvick
Express Notes:
Talladega Recap: Denny Hamlin finished sixth in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, narrowly avoiding multiple wrecks throughout the final Stage of the race to capture his 18th top-10 of the 2017 season. The race’s final 78-lap Stage was plagued with multi-car accidents that resulted in six cautions as the laps ticked away. With 16 laps remaining in the 188-lap event, Talladega’s infamous “Big One” erupted directly in front of Hamlin, but he was able to maneuver directly through the 16-car wreckage completely unscathed. In the remaining 10 laps at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, Hamlin carefully avoided two more multi-car incidents directly ahead of him and the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota. Surviving the race’s mass carnage in the last Stage, Hamlin lined up fourth for the event’s final green-white-checkered restart. He jockeyed for position across every lane but found it hard to hold onto a steady run in the draft, and Hamlin crossed the finish line in sixth.
Kansas Preview: The Series heads to Kansas Speedway this Sunday for the next cut-off race in the 2017 NASCAR Playoffs that will narrow down the Playoffs field from twelve to eight competitors. Hamlin currently sits fifth in the Playoff points standings, and will be looking to get a win at Kansas to secure his spot in the Round of 8. He last won at the 1.5-mile track in 2012, and has captured four top-five and five top-10 finishes in 18 career starts there. Hamlin was caught up in an incident in the closing laps of the race earlier this year at Kansas, resulting in a 23rd-place finish.
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.
Hamlin led 4 laps during Sunday’s race at Talladega, adding $444 to the total donation amount to Safe Kids. To date, Denny has led 440 laps and captured two Cup Series wins, and FedEx has donated $70,840 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: Kansas Speedway
Races: 18
Wins: 1
Top-5: 4
Top-10: 5
Poles: 0
Average Start: 13.1
Average Finish: 17.0
Laps Led: 69
Hamlin Conversation – Kansas:
After a good weekend in Talladega, how are you feeling heading into this Playoffs cut off race at Kansas?
“You always want to win, so I was obviously disappointed after our finish last weekend (at Talladega), but all in all it was still a good day for our FedEx team. If we can stay consistent and out of trouble this weekend in Kansas, we definitely have a shot of advancing to the next (Playoffs) Round that includes tracks I really enjoy racing at.”
