Denny Hamlin
#11 FedEx Office Toyota
Joe Gibbs Racing
Race Info:
Race: AAA Texas 500
Date/Time: Sunday, Nov. 3/3:00 p.m. ET
Race Distance: 334 laps / 501 miles
Track Shape: Oval
Track Length: 1.5 Miles
Banking: 24 degrees
2018 Winner: Kevin Harvick
Express Notes:
Martinsville Recap: Denny Hamlin earned a top-five finish at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Sunday, giving himself a second-place perch in the Playoff points after the first race of the Round of 8. The 500-lap race at the close-quartered short track featured its typical beating and banging – as well as some lengthy green-flag runs with no passing at all. Hamlin started from the pole in his #11 FedEx Freight Toyota and led the first 30 laps. But a couple of slow pit stops in the early stages dropped him farther back in the top 10. Reclaiming those spots proved difficult for the rest of the race, with the driver citing a lack of grip to make moves off the corners. The 263-mile race featured 11 caution flags, including three within the final 50 laps that repeatedly bunched up the leaders and allowed Hamlin to regain several spots and move into the top five. He crossed the finish line in fourth place as teammate Martin Truex Jr. took the victory after leading 464 of the 500 laps. Hamlin’s finish puts him second in Playoff points with two more races remaining before the championship field is pared to four.
Texas Motor Speedway Preview: The series heads next to Texas Motor Speedway for a 501-mile event on Sunday, Nov. 3. In his 27 starts at the Fort Worth track, Hamlin has three victories, including his second victory of the 2019 season. He and the FedEx #11 team look to repeat their past success this weekend at the 1.5-mile oval track.
Hamlin Statistics:
Track: Texas Motor Speedway
Races: 27
Wins: 3
Poles: 0
Top-5: 7
Top-10: 13
Laps Led: 277
Avg. Start: 14.1
Avg. Finish: 13.2
Hamlin Conversation – Texas:
How are you feeling moving ahead to Texas after a long, challenging race at Martinsville?
“You always want to come away with a victory each time you hit the track, but we’ll take our top-five and move on. It was difficult to make up spots in Martinsville. Chris (Gabehart) and the team worked hard to give us a fast car, but we just weren’t able to pass our way back up to the front under the conditions. But, we’re in a good spot in the points, and we move on to a racetrack in Texas where we won earlier this year.”
With two races left in the Round of 8, how important is it for you to secure a victory this week in Texas?
“It would certainly help, clinching a spot to move on and not have to worry about it in Phoenix. We’re all going to work as hard as we can to prepare and position ourselves to end up in Victory Lane at Texas Motor Speedway.”
FedEx Office Along for the Ride at Texas Motor Speedway: For the Texas race, FedEx Office will spotlight the efforts that went into its new internal online task management solution, My Action Planner, with the letters MAP on the B-post of the FedEx Office Toyota. The MAP App establishes a single repository for the vast majority of store-specific tasks and was the result of time, expertise and support from the managers and teams in Region 35 Heartland, District 38 Kansas City, Region 48 Ohio Valley and District 70 Pittsburgh.
