WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER NOTES FOR THE POCONO 500 NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES RACE AT POCONO RACEWAY, JUNE 11, 2006.
Denny Hamlin led six times for 83 laps to win the WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race award in the Pocono 500. Hamlin claimed the WIX Filters Lap Leader award for the first time this season. He also led the most laps in the event, the first time this season he has accomplished the feat. The Pocono race is the fifth event this season where he has led at least one lap. Hamlin has now led 184 total laps in 2006.
Hamlin won the Pocono 500, scoring his first NEXTEL Cup win in 21 career starts. He is the first Raybestos Rookie to win in 57 races at Pocono.
Hamlin has racked up three top-five and six top-10 finishes this season. He moved up to ninth in the NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings.
A different driver has now claimed WIX Filter Lap Leader of the Race in each of the past four races.
Greg Biffle leads Tony Stewart (5-3) in the WIX Filters Lap Leader standings.
Hamlin quotes: ““I knew right from the get-go that we had a very, very strong car, even in practice we were a top two or three car. We just needed to fine tune it and do something really small to make it a race-winning car. I knew when we took off and started pulling away that we had a really strong car. We were just going to have to keep up with the racetrack. We took tires and no adjustments on that first stop to just try to see where the racetrack was going to go. It pretty much stayed consistent and just tightened up just a little bit so that kind of played into our favor. Of course then we had our tire issue and I thought our hopes had pretty much gone down the drain because after we got back on the racetrack and it went green after we had that damage it just felt aero unstable. It disrupted the car quite a bit and just didn’t seem as fast as what it was. The whole crew just kept adding pieces to the car it seemed like on every single stop. They just added a couple more pieces because it knocked all the crush panels out to try to make it better. Each piece they added made the car a little bit faster and we finally got it back to where it belonged there at the end of the race.”
WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD WINNERS BY RACE
EVENT DRIVER
Daytona 500 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (32 laps)
Auto Club 500 Greg Biffle (168 laps)
UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Matt Kenseth (146 laps)
Golden Corral 500 Greg Biffle (128 laps)
Food City 500 Tony Stewart (245 laps)
DIRECTV 500 Tony Stewart (288 laps)
Samsung/RadioShack 500 Tony Stewart (99 laps)
Subway Fresh 500 Greg Biffle (151 laps)
Aaron’s 499 Jeff Gordon (62 laps)
Crown Royal 400 Greg Biffle (54 laps)
Dodge Charger 500 Greg Biffle (170 laps)
Coca-Cola 600 Kasey Kahne (158 laps)
Neighborhood Excellence 400 Jamie McMurray (95 laps)
Pocono 500 Denny Hamlin (83 laps
