Diamond Hill Plywood 200 - Denny Hamlin Notes

DENNY HAMLIN
No. 20 Rockwell Automation CHEVROLET
DARLINGTON Quotes and Notes

EVENT: DIAMOND HILL PLYWOOD 200 DATE: FEBRUARY 18, 2005
TRACK: DARLINGTON RACEWAY TV: FX 8:30 PM ET
LAPS/MILES: 147 / 200 RADIO: MRN 8:00 PM ET

QUOTES

Driver Denny Hamlin on racing at Darlington…
“Darlington is a special track to me. It really was a catalyst to my career two years ago. In August, I had been signed on a development driver deal with JGR for a couple months and they finally let me run some Truck races. I ran pretty good in those so they wanted me to see me race in a Busch car. J.J. (Yeley) was running a partial schedule that year and the only track he was not scheduled for in the fall was Darlington, so that is where they sent me with his 18 team. We had a pretty good practice but qualifying got rained out so I had to start pretty far back (27 th ). I just took my time and tried to keep the fenders on it. We had good pit stops, took care of the car and by the end had finished in the top-ten. After that J.D. offered me the whole season in the Rockwell Automation Chevrolet and the rest is history.

Darlington is a fun track to drive because it challenges the driver on every lap. As soon as you think you got her figured out, she slaps you back into reality. I have had a lot of questions about my hand, but it felt really good following the Cup race and after Busch testing in Charlotte this week. Friday will be another long day, but the hand has had over a week to heal so I am not concerned. We have had some bumps the last couple weeks, so it is exciting to come to a track where I had success the last two times I have been here. ”

Crew Chief Dave Rogers on “the Lady in Black”….
“This is a track of compromises. With the unique shape, your car is not going to handle great in both corners, so you have to dial it in with one corner and have the driver wrestle it around the other corner. You also have to have a patient driver who can race fast enough to stay with the leaders but save tires so he can run away from them in the end. Calling the race is going to be important. Last year in the Cup series, it was easy; you pit on every caution. With limited sets of tires, we are going to have to be smart with pit strategy. It is will also puts some pressure on the over wall guys because it is easier to pass cars on pit road then on the track.”

NOTES

Lap Leader …Hamlin has made it a habit of taking his car to the front this season. In nine races, Hamlin has led in five different races. Of those five races, Hamlin has led the most laps in two of those races (Mexico City & Nashville). Of the races that Hamlin has led one lap, he has gone on to finish on the lead lap & score a top ten finish in each race (avg. finish – 4.8). Of the races that Hamlin has led the most laps of the race, he has gone on to score a top five finish in both races (1 st & 3rd).

Car History … This week the #20 team is bringing car #2041. This chassis has only raced once during the 2006 season at California Speedway. After starting back in 17 th, Hamlin quickly drove through the field to 5th , but gambled by getting tires in the closing laps and was only able to work his way back up to 10 th.