RACE INFO:
Event: Daytona 500
Date/Time: Feb. 26/1:00 p.m. ET
2011 winner: Trevor Bayne
2011 polesitter: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Distance: 200 laps/500 miles
Track Length: 2.5 miles Banking: 31 degrees
Track Shape: Tri-Oval
2012 FedEx Racing Press Kit – Available for Download: Please visit www.fedexracing.com/presskit for the 2012 FedEx Racing press materials, including bios for Denny Hamlin, Darian Grubb and Joe Gibbs Racing leadership, program highlights, program statistics and 2012 crew roster.
EXPRESS NOTES: Shootout Recap: Denny Hamlin drove the #11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry to a fifth-place finish in Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway, battling an overheating engine and avoiding a handful of late multi-car accidents in the 75-lap season-opening exhibition event won by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch. Hamlin restarted sixth for a ‘green-white-checkered’ two-lap finish, but was never able to link up with another car in the tandem draft and settled for fifth behind Busch, Tony Stewart, Marcos Ambrose and Brad Keselowski. The 31-year-old Chesterfield, Va., native started 16th, but was collected in a Lap 9 incident, spinning on the track and suffering cosmetic damage. Time on pit road for repairs put the #11 machine two laps down to the leaders, and Hamlin was forced to ride in the back of the pack for the remainder of the opening 25-lap segment to try to cool the engine. The intermission caution put Denny one lap down by way of the ‘Lucky Dog,’ and the 10-minute break allowed the FedEx crew to repair a broken fan and hammer out more body damage. An early caution after the break put Hamlin back on the lead lap, but unfortunately, the engine remained too hot at the start of the segment — running consistently at 260 degrees — which prevented Hamlin from mixing it up with the leaders. It was somewhat of a blessing in disguise, as a pair of multi-car accidents in front of him allowed Hamlin to maneuver through unscathed as many race contenders were caught up. The final big incident occurred with two laps to go, setting up the two-lap shootout.
Daytona 500 Preview: The official start of the 2012 NASCAR season begins with Sunday’s 54th running of the Daytona 500. Hamlin will make his seventh start in the ‘Great American Race’ and 13th Sprint Cup Series appearance at Daytona in the #11 FedEx Express Toyota. Hamlin’s best finish in the Daytona 500 is 17th, coming in 2008 and 2010. He was running third with two laps to go in last year’s race before he was collected in an incident on the backstretch, which set up a ‘green-white-checkered’ finish eventually won by Trevor Bayne. Hamlin wound up 21st. His best-career finish at Daytona is third, coming in the summer race in 2009. Hamlin has lead at least one lap in eight of his last nine Cup Series starts at Daytona, and has led a total of 127 laps on the high-banked, 2.5-mile oval.
Heading into the 2012 season, the #11 car is one win shy of tying the famed #43 for most all-time wins in NASCAR’s premier division (now Sprint Cup Series) at 198. The #11 has recorded 197 wins in 1,732 races and Hamlin has amassed 17 of those victories in his six full seasons in the cockpit. Parnelli Jones was the first driver to win in car #11 in 1957, and the number has seen its share of famous drivers behind the wheel, including Hamlin’s childhood hero, Bill Elliott, as well as NASCAR Hall of Famers Junior Johnson, Bobby Allison, Ned Jarrett, Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip.
Race Series Date Start Finish Laps Led Coke Zero 400 Sprint Cup July 2, 2011 36 13 170/170 4 Daytona 500 Sprint Cup Feb. 20, 2011 18 21 207/208 7 Coke Zero 400 Sprint Cup July 3, 2010 4 24 158/166 4 Daytona 500 Sprint Cup Feb. 14, 2010 24 17 208/208 1 Coke Zero 400 Sprint Cup July 4, 2009 6 3 160/160 63 Daytona 500 Sprint Cup Feb. 15, 2009 10 26 152/152 Coke Zero 400 Sprint Cup July 5, 2008 15 26 162/162 6 Daytona 500 Sprint Cup Feb. 17, 2008 4 17 200/200 32 Pepsi 400 Nextel Cup July 7, 2007 2 43 99/160 10 Daytona 500 Nextel Cup Feb. 18, 2007 9 28 201/202 Pepsi 400 Nextel Cup July 1, 2006 6 17 160/160 Daytona 500 Nextel Cup Feb. 19, 2006 17 30 203/203 Averages/Totals 12.7 22.1 96.7% 127
FedEx Office – Closest to Daytona International Speedway: 2274 W. International Speedway Blvd., Daytona Beach, FL 32114, (386) 323-7840
Rochester Ramp Along for the Ride in Daytona: The FedEx Express ramp in Rochester, N.Y. will be recognized with its “ROCR” code letters on the b-post of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota for the Daytona 500.
HAMLIN CONVERSATION – Daytona 500: What did you learn in the Shootout that can help you for the Daytona 500? “The biggest thing for us is figuring out how to keep our engine cool. I think we might have damaged our engine when we got in that wreck early in the Shootout, but we were running hot almost the entire race. I wasn’t able to stay up in the big pack because our temps were so high. I think a lot of teams were having the same issues we were having, so we’ll see how it plays out over the course of 200 laps.”
Are you happy to see the return of the big pack racing at Daytona? “I am happy to see the big pack return. I feel like it puts it back in the drivers’ hands with how they want to run the race. You can run up front and mix it up the whole time or stay back a big and hope to avoid the wrecks. There will be a little more carnage as a product of the big packs as opposed to the tandem racing we have seen the last few (restrictor) plate races, but you no longer have to rely on someone else to control your destiny. I would like to get up there and lead some laps, but since it’s a long race, I don’t want to be in a position to get caught up in a wreck. I’ll just have to see how the race plays out and see what’s best for us to be around at the end and go for the win.”
