DENNY HAMLIN
NO. 20 ROCKWELL AUTOMATION CHEVROLET
DARLINGTON QUOTES AND NOTES
Event: Diamond Hill Plywood 200 Date: May 11, 2007
Track: Darlington Raceway TV: ESPN2 8:30 PM EST
Laps/Miles: 147 / 200 Radio: MRN 8:00 PM EST
QUOTES
Driver Denny Hamlin this weekend’s race at Darlington Raceway…
“Winning at Darlington last year was a huge deal to me. First of all track is so tough. You have to be on your toes every lap. You can not make one mistake all night. Also, it was the location of my first Busch start. I remember coming to test here that year (2004). I must have made 50 laps and hit some part of the wall on 49 of those laps. To come from that experience to being able to win at one of NASCAR’s most historic tracks, means a lot to me.
I am really excited about the direction of my Rockwell Automation car. We started the season a little flat but the last couple weeks, the cars have been fantastic. It seems that each week, Dave (Rogers) is making the cars better and better. The pit stops have been fantastic and this team is due for a win. We are building off the momentum of last week’s pole and should have a good showing this week.
Crew Chief Dave Rogers on racing at Darlington….
“This is a Denny Hamlin kind of race track. You need to depend on your driver to be patient and wait on the right time to drive the car hard. It is a difficult concept to install in a driver’s head. Normally, as soon as a driver gets passed on the track, their normal instinct is to push it a little harder and find a way around that guy. But at Darlington you really have to be careful not to use up your tires too early. You need to have the control to let that guy go and just run your pace. Denny has that patience and that is why he has had a lot of success at this track.
NOTES
Did you know… Denny Hamlin claims to be a short track ace and may only have 2.5 years of NASCAR experience, but he drives Darlington like a veteran. Although he loves Richmond and Martinsville, the track “Too Tough to Tame” has been his most successful stop on the NASCAR circuit. After four starts (1 Nextel Cup & 3 Busch), Hamlin has finished every race in the top ten and completed every lap attempted (808 laps). He also has one pole position scored in last year’s Busch race.
Car History… This week the #20 team is bringing car #2041. This is the same car that won the pole last year at Darlington and then went on to win the race. It marked the second Busch Series victory for Denny Hamlin and the #20 Rockwell Automation team. This is the second race of the season for this car, the first being at Bristol driven by Aric Almirola where he was running in the top 15 when a late race accident dropped him to 32nd.
