DENNY HAMLIN #11 FedEx Chevrolet Monte Carlo FEDEX RACING EXPRESS FACTS SAMSUNG/RADIO SHACK 500 – TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

RACE INFO:
Event: Samsung/Radio Shack 500
Track: Texas Motor Speedway
Distance: 263/501 miles
Date/Time: April 9, 2006 / 1:30 p.m. ET
2005 winner: Greg Biffle
2005 polesitter: Ryan Newman

TRACK INFO:
Length: 1.5 miles
Banking: 24 degrees
Shape: Quad-Oval

EXPRESS NOTES: Long Day for Hamlin at Martinsville: Denny Hamlin had his work cut out for him at Martinsville Speedway last weekend. Starting from the 41st spot on the grid, the Virginia native piloted the #11 FedEx Ground Chevrolet from the back of the field to as high as ninth before contact with the #6 car of Mark Martin cut his tire which resulted in a turn four spin and contact with the wall on lap 307. The damage to the rear of the #11 was beyond repair and the team was forced to load the car on the truck and settle for a disappointing 37th-place finish.

“I know that our day was not supposed to end the way it did,” Said Hamlin. “We worked hard to battle forward from the back and get up into the top-ten and we felt like we still had more to give as the FedEx Chevy was running great and getting better. It looked like the #6 got into the wall a little and came down into me, cutting my tire and I just had to hold on at that point. Unfortunately, I hit the wall and the damage to the car was too great to fix and get back in.”

2006 NNCS Points: Hamlin’s 37th-place finish at Martinsville dropped the FedEx Racing team from 17th to 23rd place in the season standings, loss of six spots. Hamlin currently sits on 582 points, 142 points out of 10th and 351points behind season leader Jimmie Johnson.

Martinsville Finish Drops Hamlin to Third in Rookie Standings: Trouble at Martinsville dropped Hamlin into third place in the Raybestos Rookie Contender standings – he trails teammate J.J. Yeley by two points and leader Clint Bowyer by seven points.

Hamlin at Texas Motor Speedway: The Samsung/Radio Shack 500 will be Hamlin’s second start at Texas Motor Speedway in a NASCAR Nextel Cup car, and his 14th career start in NASCAR’s top flight. He made his debut at the track in November of 2005, the same weekend he was introduced as the driver of the #11 FedEx Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2006. Hamlin followed up the announcement by taking the checkered flag in seventh after starting 14th, recording his third top-ten finish in only his fifth career Cup start. In two Busch Series starts at the 1.5-mile track, Hamlin recorded finishes of 14th and 19th.

Martinsville Speedway Chassis JGR 137/JGR 127: This will be the first race of the 2006 NNCS season for Chassis 137 as it is a brand new car. Chassis 127 will serve as the back up this weekend and is the car Hamlin drove to a 31st place at Atlanta earlier this season in the car’s only NNCS start.

FedEx Express Car at Texas: Denny Hamlin will run the FedEx Express car for the third time in 2006 this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Throughout the season, Hamlin and FedEx Racing will feature schemes representing four of the FedEx operating companies; FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight and FedEx Kinko’s.

QUOTES:
Hamlin on Texas Motor Speedway: “As hard as it is to put Martinsville, and what we thought would be a strong finish, behind us we feel good about going to Texas in hopes of getting our season back on track. We are currently 23rd but we know we are capable of more. We are all striving to find that consistency and turn it into good finishes.

Texas is a track I ran last year in the Cup car and a track where I felt the Cup car suited my driving style a little better than the Busch car. The team has been working hard on our intermediate aero package and throughout the organization we think our intermediate program is stronger than it was last year. At Texas you can expect to see a lot of side by side racing and because you can run a couple of grooves here, it’s likely this race won’t be decided until the last lap.”