Motor Sports Update
Hamlin Scores Top-Five Finish at New Hampshire
Loudon, NH (June 30, 2007) — Riding the wave of victory into this weekend’s event at New Hampshire, the #20 team was excited about their chances at a track similar to the Milwaukee Mile where they claimed the victory just a week ago. Both flat, one-mile race tracks, it would take a good car and solid pit stops to finish up front.
Due to the short turnaround, the #20 team was unable to bring the same car that was so dominant the week earlier. In its place was another solid star that has scored four top-five finishes and three pole positions in its last five races. As Denny Hamlin took the track for practice, he had limited comments about the car. Scoring the fastest speed in the final practice session, the team went to work on the car to get it ready for qualifying. As Hamlin made his lap, his time was only fastest enough for the 5th starting position.
"Going into qualifying, I thought we had a great shot at the pole," commented Hamlin after his lap. "We were just way too loose. I just had to wait too long to get back to the throttle. It is alright though; this track tightens up a lot during the race, so it should be pretty good for the race."
As the green flag dropped on the Camping World 200, Hamlin was immediately on the move. Quickly gaining the 4th position, Hamlin was running 3rd when the leaders chose to use the caution period on lap 35 to head to pit road. Reporting that the car was just a tick loose, they decided to make no changes as they were hoping the track would continue to tighten up. The team returned him to the track in the fifth position with two cars opting not to pit. As the race restarted, Hamlin wrestled a loose car from the start but was able to quickly move back up to third. As the long green flag run continued, Hamlin became the fastest car on the track and quickly ran down the leaders. By lap 80, Hamlin had taken the lead from Kevin Harvick and began to check out on the field. The caution flag would fly on lap 97 and Hamlin led the field to pit road for service.
Hamlin would lead several laps after the restart but then surrendered the lead to Kevin Harvick. Waiting for his car to come back in, Hamlin would lose several positions and then start picking them off one by one. Working his way up to the 3rd position when the final caution flag would fly on lap 164, Hamlin was forced to pit road for fuel. Considering two tires, the #20 team chose four tires and some chassis adjustments to try to make the car tighter earlier in the run. Unfortunately, the changes were a little too aggressive and Hamlin lost a couple position but still rallied to finish fifth.
"Our car was really loose at the beginning of the run," said Hamlin following the race. "It was so bad we would chatter the right rear tire for about five laps. But once it started to tighten up, it handled really well. We would be much better than those guys especially after 20 laps or so. At the end, we knew we were going to have to be tighter with a short run to the checkers and just over adjusted a bit."
This week the Busch Series returns to Daytona International Speedway for the Winn-Dixie 250. Aric Almirola returns to the seat of the #20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet for this exciting Friday night event. The race is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
