Denny Hamlin
#11 FedEx Office Toyota
Joe Gibbs Racing
Race Info:
Race: AAA Texas 500
Date/Time: Sunday, Nov. 4/ 3 p.m. ET
Race Distance: 334 laps / 501 miles
Track Shape: Oval
Track Length: 1.5 Miles
Banking: 24 degrees
2017 Winner: Kevin Harvick
Express Notes:
Martinsville Recap: Denny Hamlin finished second in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway, capitalizing on long-run speed to collect his third Stage win of the season and position the #11 FedEx Freight Toyota for its second runner-up finish in its past four starts. Hamlin lined up fourth for the race’s final restart on lap 463, but he was forced to settle into fifth as the leaders fought side-by-side for position. He continued to battle his way to the front of the field as the laps ticked and moved into third with only a handful of laps remaining. In the final lap, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. collided as they fought for the top spot, and Denny dove to the bottom of the track to avoid the melee and catapult his way to a second-place result. Hamlin’s second-place finish at Martinsville moves him up one spot to 11th in the overall points standings.
Texas Preview: With only three races remaining in the 2018 season, the Series returns to action at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway for its second event there this year. In his 25 starts at the Fort Worth track, Denny has led 232 laps and collected six top-five and 12 top-10 finishes. Denny looks to improve upon his 34th-place result from Texas in the spring after a mutli-car wreck in the race’s final Stage took him out of contention.
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. New for the 2018 season, the Denny Hamlin Foundation will also match the total donation to Safe Kids Worldwide.
Hamlin led 31 laps at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, generating a $3,441 donation to Safe Kids on behalf of FedEx. After 33 total races this season, Hamlin has led 339 laps resulting in a $37,629 donation to Safe Kids Worldwide that will ultimately be matched by the Denny Hamlin Foundation. Fans can track the total amount donated to date from the Delivering Laps for FedEx Cares program on the homepage of fedexracing.com.
Press Kit: Download the 2018 FedEx Racing press materials at www.fedexracing.com/presskit, including bios for Denny Hamlin, Mike Wheeler and Joe Gibbs Racing leadership, program highlights and statistics.
Hamlin Statistics:
Track: Texas Motor Speedway
Races: 25
Wins: 2
Poles: 0
Top-5: 6
Top-10: 12
Laps Led: 232
Avg. Start: 14.8
Avg. Finish: 13.0
Hamlin Conversation – Texas:
How motivated are you to win following last weekend’s result at Martinsville?
“I wanted that win so badly (at Martinsville), but I can’t be disappointed with how well our FedEx Camry ran all weekend long. We’ll look ahead now, and we’ve got three really good race tracks ahead of us where we’ll see if we can get it done.”
FedEx Office Government Sales Team Along for the Ride at Texas: FedEx Office recognizes the company’s Government Sales team for being the leading team in their September FY19 President’s Club rankings by featuring the call letters “GOVT” on the #11 FedEx Office Toyota at Texas.
