Denny Hamlin is OK physically but down in points after Dover wreck

Saturday Pocono Notebook

Denny Hamlin is OK physically but down in points after Dover wreck

June 8, 2013

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

LONG POND, Pa.--When Denny Hamlin cut a right front tire late in last Sunday’s FedEx 400 at Dover International Speedway, the mishap sent his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota hard into the outside wall in Turn 1.

The impact was jarring, especially for a driver who had missed four races after suffering a compression fracture of his first lumbar vertebra during a last-lap crash at Fontana, Calif., in late March.

As it turned out, however, physical well-being was the least of Hamlin’s concerns. Relegated to a 34^th-place finish in a race where Hamlin had started from the pole and run consistently in the top 10, Hamlin sustained much more serious damage to his improbable quest to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

"I feel pretty good," Hamlin told the NASCAR Wire Service on Friday at Pocono Raceway. "Actually, afterwards, I felt the best after that Dover race--of course I was 20 laps short at the finish, but better than I really felt there after any Dover race.  

"I think physically everything was good. It didn't affect me at all. Obviously, it kind of caught me off guard when (the tire) did blow and hit the wall, so I really didn't have time to get tight or anything. Everything was pretty good."

Not so good was Hamlin’s standing in the points. He slipped two spots to 26^th and is 74 points out of 20^th, the position Hamlin must reach after 26 races to be eligible for a wild card position in the Chase. In other words, there’s almost no margin for error in the next 13 races.

"I have (to run) an average now of two spots better in each race on performance just because I had one bad finish," Hamlin said. "That's a crusher as far as that's concerned. That part of it is tough. Obviously, if we do win a couple times, more than likely… we were edging our way and we were going to be in good shape had we not blown that tire, we would have been down in the 40s (points down) to 20th with plenty of time.  

"Now we set ourselves back to where we pretty much started again. We've done the math, we know what we have to do, but obviously we know that every bad finish hurts us that much more."

THANK GOODNESS FOR PRACTICE

Carl Edwards was worried. With practice and qualifying rained out at Pocono on Friday, the prospect of losing Saturday’s two practice sessions to weather was not one Edwards wanted to contemplate.

Fortunately, the Sprint Cup cars finally got on track at 10:15 a.m. Saturday, and Edwards got a chance to dial in his No. 99 Ford. That’s something of an understatement. Edwards was second quickest in Saturday’s first session and third fastest in Happy Hour.

Had practice been washed out, the setups for Sunday’s Party at the Poconos 400 would have relied primarily on computer simulations, not on actual track time. To a greater extent than in years past, the Roush Fenway drivers have also relying on communication with their counterparts from other teams.

In fact, Edwards said he’s had considerable dialogue with and gotten input this year from Penske Racing Ford drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

"I’ve talked a relatively large amount with Brad and Joey this year," Edwards said. "Joey and I have texted back and forth after a number of races. Brad and I talked a little bit at Darlington, and I believe from my perspective, we’re all working really well together.  

"We kind of want the same things, and it’s one more step where we’re all sitting down on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and working through problems together. We’re not there yet, but I believe that we’re pretty close to that. I think it won’t be long before we realize together that we could all achieve more than the sum of our parts."

SHORT STROKES

Testing clearly made a difference at Pocono. Cars from Stewart-Haas Racing and Richard Childress Racing--teams that used opted to test at the Tricky Triangle--peppered the upper echelons of the speed charts in Saturday’s final practice session.

Tony Stewart was fourth fastest, followed by teammate Ryan Newman in fifth. RCR driver Paul Menard was seventh quickest in Happy Hour, with teammate Kevin Harvick 12^th. Kurt Busch, whose Furniture Row team is closely affiliated with RCR, paced final practice at 175.333 mph.

Menard’s team changed the transmission on the No. 27 Chevrolet on Saturday, but Menard won’t have to start from the rear, given that Pocono, like the road courses, is a track where drivers shift gears at racing speed and NASCAR's one-transmission rule is waived.