Denny Hamlin
#11 “Thank you FedEx team members” Toyota
Joe Gibbs Racing
Virtual Race Info:
Race: O’Reilly Auto Parts 125
Date/Time: Sunday, March 29/1 p.m. ET
Race Distance: 125 laps/187.5 miles
Track Shape: Oval
Track Length: 1.5 miles
Banking: 24 degrees
Express Notes:
eNASCAR Homestead Recap: Denny Hamlin took the FedEx Express Toyota to a virtual Victory Lane for the first time Sunday, winning the inaugural eNASCAR Pro Invitational event at a simulated Homestead-Miami Speedway. A barefoot Hamlin, who logged hours of practice time for the work-from-home event, started the race ninth from the seat of his simulator. He led 14 laps during the middle of the race and used a fresh set of virtual tires to surge back to the front in the closing laps. As sports-hungry fans watched the exhibition event unfold live on FS1, Hamlin passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. coming off Turn 4 of the 1.5-mile virtual oval to take the checkered flag.
eNASCAR Texas Preview: After a successful first week on the iRacing platform, the eNASCAR Pro Invitational Series will take a virtual trip to Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday for 125 laps around the high-speed, 1.5-mile oval. Hamlin took the FedEx Toyota to Victory Lane at the real Ft. Worth track one year ago and is logging plenty of practice hours in hopes of making a virtual trip to Victory Lane for a second consecutive week.
FedEx “Thank You” Paint Scheme: For Sunday’s eNASCAR event at virtual Texas, the #11 car will pay tribute to the 475,000 FedEx team members who are working to deliver shipments around the world safely and securely during the COVID-19 pandemic. A special “Thank You” FedEx paint scheme will recognize all the FedEx team members who are working hard to deliver critical medical supplies and equipment to the healthcare community as well as basic goods to people at home.
Hamlin Conversation – Virtual Texas:
FedEx has been very involved in COVID-19 relief efforts. You must feel free very proud to run this special paint scheme.
“Absolutely. They’ve got nearly half a million team members around the world who deserve a big ‘thank you’ right now. They’ve been working hard every day to make sure critical shipments are being delivered during a difficult time. It felt good to go out and get a win for them last weekend, and I hope we can do it again this Sunday in this special virtual FedEx Toyota.”
Do you think the participation and the competition level will go up after the first week of iRacing in this invitational series?
“You know, I don’t think you’re going to get everyone every week. That’s going to be a challenge. But you’re also going to have new guys coming in. There’s probably a lot of Cup guys that didn’t participate that saw this and were like, ‘I need to get back in this.’ Jimmie Johnson, I’m sure, is going to put more time in, Joey Logano, those guys. If you put the time in, you can get some of the benefits of running up front and you start to really like it.”
