Hamlin trying to right his ship

Hamlin trying to right his ship

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(August 21, 2011)

BROOKLYN, Mich.—Denny Hamlin’s new engine didn’t fail, but that was about the only good news for the 2010 Chase runner-up.

With an engine supplied by Toyota Racing Development and refined and tuned at Joe Gibbs Racing, Hamlin qualified fourth for Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

After Friday’s time trials, however, things went south in a hurry for the driver struggling to keep a spot in the Chase this year. Hamlin fought handling problems throughout the race, and on Lap 122, he smacked the wall in Turns 1 and 2, crippling his No. 11 Toyota.

“We were fighting our car all day, from tight to loose and back and forth,” Hamlin said. “Our car just really struggled on corner entry, of being loose. I was kind of in a pack of cars there and just tried to enter the corner with a little bit more speed and just got too loose and got into the wall.”

Hamlin finished 35th and fell two spots to 14th in the Cup standings, though he still holds the second provisional wild-card spot in the Chase by virtue of his victory at Michigan in June.

In order to secure that Chase berth, Hamlin needs to improve quickly—and he knows it. After the race, he and crew chief Mike Ford spent 40 minutes in a debriefing session, trying to get past the frustrations of a lost afternoon.

“Obviously, this is the lowest point that I’ve been since 2006 (his rookie season),” Hamlin said. “Now it’s on me to try to figure out what I’ve got to do to get better. What information do I need to give Mike for him to make better adjustments on the car? What do I need to tell him to make sure that, when we get on the racetrack, that we’ve got a race-winning car, not a 20th-place car?

“There’s going to be a lot of communication over these next three weeks, and if we make the Chase, over the next 10 weeks after that. All I can say is we’re not going to give up. Right now, we’re still in position to make this.”