Denny Hamlin
FEDEX RACING EXPRESS FACTS
FOOD CITY 500 – BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY

RACE INFO:
Event: Food City 500
Date/Time: March 25, 2007 / 2 p.m. ET
Length: .533 miles
Shape: Oval
Banking: 36 degrees
Distance: 500 laps/266 miles
2006 winner: Kurt Busch
2006 polesitter: Tony Stewart

EXPRESS NOTES:
Hamlin Fastest During Bristol Testing: During the Car of Tomorrow testing at Bristol Motor Speedway in Feb, Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx team posted the top time in two of the three sessions. His best lap of 15.706 seconds (122.170 mph) was the fastest time recorded during the test.

“It was a great test for us at Bristol. There were a lot of questions about how the teams would perform in this first real test but I think we showed that all of the work JGR engineers have put into the COT program is paying off. We were really fast, really good on the long run and we were able to make good adjustments and learn a lot. That’s what you need out of a test, good data to carry over to race conditions. It will be a much different situation with 43 cars running together out there but we are happy with the progress and all the credit goes to the guys on the crew and all of the folks back at the JGR shop for putting these cars together.”

Hamlin at Bristol Motor Speedway: This will be Hamlin’s third career start at Bristol Motor Speedway in a NASCAR Nextel Cup car. Hamlin battled back from an early incident to claim a top-twenty finish in his first Bristol start, placing 14th in the Spring race of 2006. Last fall, Hamlin qualified sixth and finished in the same spot to maintain momentum in the Chase for the Nextel Cup. In four Busch series starts at BMS, Hamlin has recorded finishes of ninth, 13th, fourth and 22nd.

Bristol Motor Speedway Chassis JGR 154: This is a new car from the Joe Gibbs Racing #11 team stable but it was tested extensively at Bristol at the end of February where it topped the speed chart in two of the three sessions. Backup car JGR 158 has yet to make a NNCS start.

QUOTES:
Hamlin on the Car of Tomorrow Debut: “Other than the way it looks I am not sure you’ll be able to tell any difference in the racing when the Car of Tomorrow is on the track. At a place like Bristol where the aero package isn’t as important as it is at some of the other tracks, these cars perform a lot like the current Cup car and we were fast in testing so we feel good about where the #11 FedEx Impala is right now.

The thing to watch will probably be the repairs in-race. Bristol takes its toll on equipment so we will probably see some teams having to make repairs on the car and without a lot to work from that might be a challenge. I think there are some unknowns still around the front splitter and the rear wing we may not know how that will go until we have real experience in race conditions. Once we have some races behind us we can take what we learned as a team and use that information moving forward.

The entire team has spent so much time around the current Monte Carlo and they have learned so much about these cars as far as making them fast and making them handle the way we want them to. The notebook on the Monte Carlo is thick and not necessarily having that for the new COT could be the biggest difference. They have to learn the characteristics of a new machine and all that goes with it when is comes to changes and repairs. That all comes with time around the car and we will know more and more each time these cars run.”

Hamlin on Bristol Motor Speedway: “This is a favorite of mine, and the racing at Bristol is as entertaining for fans as any all year. It’s extremely fast for a short track and there isn’t a lot of space to move so you need your car to handle good. Contact here almost always leads to more contact so we know the safest place to be is out front. It’s also important to qualify well and get a good pit stall because as scary as the track is here, a lot of times pit road is where this race is won and lost.”