Ground To Gain: Hamlin Seeks Martinsville Rebound

Ground To Gain: Hamlin Seeks Martinsville Rebound


Roadblocks.
That’s 2011, thus far, for Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota) who’s been stymied nearly every time he’s taken a green flag. Definitely not the preferred path for the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series runner-up, who gets, this week, perhaps the perfect prescription for his competitive ills:

Martinsville Speedway.

Hamlin rocks the venerable, .526-mile venue. He’s won three consecutive events at the Virginia short track, where a victory in Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500 would provide the perfect tonic, plus tie a record. If he prevails, the Virginia native will join Fred Lorenzen as the only drivers to win four consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Martinsville. Lorenzen did so from 1963-65.

Such karma would be welcomed. Hamlin heads to Martinsville 21st in the series standings, the worst start of his six-year career. Finishes of 21st at Daytona International Speedway, 11th at Phoenix International Raceway, seventh at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 33rd at Bristol Motor Speedway and 39th at Auto Club Speedway have necessitated a serious game of catch-up, somewhat exacerbated by Joe Gibbs Racing engine woes.

Hamlin’s team changed engines before both the season-opening Daytona 500 and the schedule’s third race at Las Vegas, where he finished a season-high seventh on backup power. And engine failure knocked Hamlin to a 39th-place result last week in California, costing him four places in the standings and tightening the Martinsville microscope.

Understand that Hamlin and crew chief Mike Ford probably aren’t panicking.

Their team stood 19th after five races in 2010, with Hamlin knocking out wins at the next two tracks on the 2011 schedule – Martinsville and Texas Motor Speedway – despite enduring knee surgery following Martinsville.

“The uplifting part is I’m going to some really, really good race tracks for us,” Hamlin said following last Sunday’s frustration at Auto Club. “With this new (points) system, you can get in (the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup) based on wins if, for some reason, we can’t work our way back to the top 10.”

They Rule: Hamlin, Johnson Current Martinsville Kings
If you’re good at Martinsville Speedway, it’s not a gift that goes away.

The reverse can be true, too, but for now, consider Denny Hamlin and reigning five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet), who both have grown roots in Martinsville’s Victory Lane. The two have combined to win the last nine races there – dating to the fall 2006 event – and a wider eye adds one more driver to the contender’s mix.

Hamlin, Johnson and Kyle Busch (No. 18 Pedigree Toyota) have combined to win the last 15 short-track races, a streak that began with the fall 2008 event at Richmond International Raceway. Kyle Busch at Martinsville, however, is another story. Lately he’s owned .533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway, winning five of its last nine series events (including this year’s spring event), while a few hundred miles east, in Virginia, he’s still doing reconnaissance.

“Martinsville has been getting better for us,” Busch said two weeks ago of his no wins, five top-fives and six top-10s in 12 Martinsville starts. “We're getting there. Thanks to (crew chief) Dave (Rogers), we've really worked hard at that. We kind of feel like we have a baseline, a better baseline that we can unload with and be faster off the truck. That's a big benefit to us.”

Indeed, he may be en route. Busch finished fourth last fall at Martinsville, a career-best result there.

And don’t forget four-time series champion Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet), who leads all active drivers with seven Martinsville wins. Johnson is right behind with six, followed by Hamlin with four.

Game On In 2011
‘Tis the season for buzzer beaters – and not only in the NCAA basketball tournaments.

Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet) dunked the game-winner on five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) as time ran out Sunday at Auto Club Speedway. Harvick caught and passed Johnson in the third turn of the final lap around the two-mile oval to win by 0.144 seconds. Watch Kevin Harvick talk about beating Jimmie Johnson at his own game.

It may have been a shocker, not only to five-time Auto Club winner Johnson but Kyle Busch (No. 18 Pedigree Toyota) as well. Busch, going for his second consecutive weekend sweep of NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races, had been passed by Johnson three laps from the finish.

Last-lap passes have been on the rise recently:

• There have been 14 over the most recent five seasons including Kurt Busch’s (No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Dodge) winning pass of Ryan Newman (No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet) in February’s Budweiser Shootout at Daytona.

• Harvick has been on the winning end of a last-lap pass four times in five seasons: on Sunday, last spring at Talladega, in 2009 when he beat Jamie McMurray (No. 1 Widia Chevrolet) to win the Budweiser Shootout and in 2007 when he beat Mark Martin (No. 5 Quaker State/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet) to the line to win the Daytona 500. His record is 4-1 after Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer (No. 33 BB&T Chevrolet) won last fall’s Talladega race.

Other indicators also point to 2011 as being among the most competitive NASCAR Sprint Cup seasons.

• Five different winners over the first five races are the most since 2005. Those five winners competed for five different race teams, the most since 2003.

• Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota have scored 31 Manufacturers’ Championship points apiece. The top four drivers in the points standings each drive a different brand of car.

• The new points system offers several levels of excitement. Fourteen points cover the top five positions. There’s also the opportunity to bounce back. Three drivers ranking 25th or worse after the Daytona 500 – Johnson, Harvick and Matt Kenseth (No. 17 Crown Royal Ford) – have managed to climb into the top 10 over the course of four races.

• Johnson has scored the most points over the last four races (156) followed by Newman and Harvick (154). Click here for a full list of points gained since the Daytona 500.