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News and Results | Point Standings | 2007 Schedule | 2007 Teams | 2006 Schedule and Results | 2005 Schedule and Results
DENNY HAMLIN
RACE INFO: EXPRESS NOTES: What a Difference a Year Makes: Winning the 2006 Bud Shootout was a dream start to his rookie season for driver Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team. Qualifying for the event by virtue of winning the pole at Phoenix in Nov. of 2005, Hamlin was the lone rookie participant in the star studded 2006 field but it didn’t take long for Hamlin to move the #11 to the front of the pack. He led 16 of the final 21 laps and held off Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. through a green-white-checkered finish for the win. Hamlin became the first rookie to win the event in its history and earned lifetime qualification in the event for his efforts. Hamlin at Daytona International Speedway: In addition to the 2006 Bud Shootout win, Hamlin’s experience at Daytona International Speedway has consisted of two NEXTEL Cup starts and four Busch Series starts. Hamlin’s best Cup finish came in the 2006 Pepsi 400 where he finished 17th. Bud Shootout Chassis JGR 123: The FedEx team will take chassis JGR 123 to Daytona for the 2007 Bud Shootout. This car served as a backup on one occasion in 2006 and was tested extensively when the FedEx team visited Daytona in January. QUOTES: Hamlin on the 2007 Shootout: “Considering where we were last year at this time it is pretty amazing that we are coming back to Daytona and preparing for the Bud Shootout as the defending champions. That win last year really got our season off to a great start and it gave us a lot of confidence heading into the Cup schedule. I think we’ll approach this year’s shootout in the same way we did last year – go out there any have some fun but we also take a lot of pride in our superspeedway program and we’ll want to show what we can do. It’s also a good opportunity to get out there with some of the best drivers in the sport and try to find some drafting partners for the 500 as well.” Hamlin on Winning the 2006 Shootout: “It was an incredible night for us last year. Even after winning that night it didn’t sink in right away for me because I was so happy for the guys on the crew. They had worked so hard in 2005 without a lot of reward and here they were at Daytona putting a lot of faith in a rookie to take the wheel of the #11 car and show how good the team actually was. It was a win for them and for everyone at FedEx for sure, and it was also really fun to celebrate with my parents who had given everything to get me to that point.” Hamlin on his 2007 NEXTEL Cup Expectations: “We had a great season in 2006. We exceeded our own expectations in a lot of ways and I think we turned a lot of heads in the sport. As a team, we feel we earned everything we got last year. We worked hard, the crew was great all season and the guys in the shop were building really competitive cars. We were consistent all season and if not for some bad luck in the Chase we might have been right there challenging for a championship at the end. Our goals for this year are to go out and work even harder. This sport is really competitive and we know the teams that finished the season right behind us last year will step up their game and try to close the gap on us. We know we need to be as committed to getting better as they are or we will get passed by. We also know that we can no longer surprise anyone so we have teams gunning for us this season.”
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