Hamlin says he’s poised for title run

Notebook: Hamlin says he’s poised for title run

CONCORD, N.C.—Even though Denny Hamlin has no top fives in 10 starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway, he feels the next three tracks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule—including Charlotte—favor his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team.
Martinsville, which will host the series Oct. 24, is a given. Hamlin has won the past two races there and three of the past five. The week after that is Talladega, a crapshoot by any standards, but a track where Hamlin has three top-five finishes in nine starts.
“The next three,” Hamlin said, when asked which races he thought would be strong for him. “We include Charlotte in it as well, as a track (where) we feel like we can win. These are three really good racetracks for us, even though the statistics might not show it.
“After that we have Texas, (the start of) three racetracks that we’ve won at in the last six races or so. I’m pretty confident that we should be looking pretty good here soon.”
Hamlin was running well in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May, before he fell victim to an accident.
“We’re looking at this racetrack to gain points—not lose any—and the same goes for Martinsville and Talladega,” said Hamlin, who entered the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup as the top seed, based on six regular-season victories, but has fallen to second, 36 points behind Jimmie Johnson.
“At this point, if we gain anything, I’ll be pretty happy.”

Patrick announces partial 2011 schedule
Danica Patrick fans can circle four dates on the calendar for next year, after the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet announced her first four races of 2011.
Patrick confirmed Friday she will compete in the first four Nationwide Series races of the season—at Daytona (Feb. 19), Phoenix (Feb. 26), Las Vegas (March 5) and Bristol (March 19). JRM will field the car for the entire season, with Patrick sharing seat time with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and a driver to be named.
She also plans to run a full IndyCar Series schedule, in addition to a Nationwide slate that could include as many as 14 races.
“When the IndyCar schedule gets locked down, then we’ll be able to make some decisions on the rest of it,” Patrick said. “But it will be similar to what we did this year.”

Edwards fastest in Happy Hour
Carl Edwards backed up his front-row qualifying effort with a strong final practice session Friday. With a lap at 186.008 mph, Edwards paced Happy Hour at the 1.5-mile track.
“It’s fun to be on top of the chart in Happy Hour in Charlotte,” said Edwards, who will start beside polesitter Jeff Gordon in Saturday night’s Bank of America 500, the fifth race in the Chase. “That’s a first for me.”
Gordon had trouble finding speed in race trim. He was 32nd quickest in Friday’s first session and 27th fastest in Happy Hour.
Kurt Busch scraped the wall during final practice, but the damage to his No. 2 Dodge was merely cosmetic. Busch was third quickest in the session behind Edwards and Reed Sorenson.
By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service