Saturday Notebook
Denny Hamlin: New pavement has changed the game at Pocono
June 1, 2013
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
DOVER,
Del. -- Denny Hamlin's quest to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint
Cup -- despite missing four races because of a compression
fracture to his first lumbar vertebra -- is one of the most compelling
stories of the 2013 racing season.
But
is it a realistic goal? To qualify for one of the wild card spots,
Hamlin must be in the top 20 in the driver standings after 26
races. He also must win at least one race, probably two.
The
top 20 shouldn't be an issue, given the speed and strength Joe Gibbs
Racing has shown this season. Since Talladega in early May,
where he started the race and turned the car over to relief driver
Brian Vickers at the first opportunity, Hamlin has climbed to 24th in points.
Hamlin
has 14 races to gain four more spots, and he's starting on the pole in
Sunday's FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover.
The
wins are another matter. One might think two events at Pocono, where
Hamlin swept a pair of races from the pole as a rookie in 2006,
would provide an excellent opportunity.
But
Hamlin says the recent repaving of the 2.5-mile triangular track, where
the Cup series races next week and Aug. 4, has taken away
the edge he had there.
"We
had a leg up… we had two legs up on everyone when we went there with
the old pavement," Hamlin told the NASCAR Wire Service. "I
think now we're better than average, but we're not the best anymore at
that track. But it's definitely a place that we have performed well.
Even after it got paved we still performed pretty well. Yeah, it is a
track I look forward to…
"Really, for me, I think
that when they changed the track and they paved it, it changed
everything. It really was like a whole new race track. Same with Kansas
and Michigan -- all of
these tracks, as soon as they pave them, they took one track and they
just really threw it out and you've got a whole other surface, new
setups, new way of driving style every single time. I think that's the
challenge for us. We've got to really learn that
race track again."
Because passing is more
difficult on the new Pocono surface, track position will be crucial.
That may be good news for Hamlin, who will be trying for his third
straight Sprint Cup pole
next weekend at the Tricky Triangle.
ALLMENDINGER BACK IN PENSKE STOCK CAR
Fresh from a seventh-place finish in last Sunday's 97th
Indianapolis 500, where he led 23 laps in his debut,
AJ Allmendinger will return to a Penske Racing stock car in two
Nationwide Series road course races this year, the team announced
Saturday.
Allmendinger will drive the No. 22 Penske Ford at Road America on June 22 and at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on
Aug. 17.
"I
think this is a great opportunity for us to have AJ drive the No. 22
Discount Tire Ford," owner Roger Penske said
in a team release. "He is a great talent on road courses and has been
doing a great job for Team Penske already this year in the IZOD IndyCar
Series.
"With his stock car experience and his road course experience, we think this is the perfect opportunity for him and
for the team."
Allmendinger
hasn't driven a stock car for Penske since he lost his ride in the No.
22 Sprint Cup car after a failed
drug test last year. Suspended by NASCAR, Allmendinger earned
reinstatement through the sanctioning body's Road to Recovery program
and has competed in four Sprint Cup races this season in the No. 51
Phoenix Racing Chevrolet SS owned by James Finch.
Allmendinger has eight starts in the Nationwide Series, the last coming at Phoenix in 2008. The race at Mid-Ohio will
mark the first visit there from any of NASCAR's top three touring series.
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