FEDEX RACING EXPRESS FACTS
DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

RACE INFO:
Event: Dodge Dealers 400
Date/Time: Sept. 23, 2007 / 1:30 p.m. ET
Length: 1.0 miles
Shape: Oval
Banking: 24 degrees
Distance: 400 laps/400 miles
2006 winner: Jeff Burton
2006 polesitter: Jeff Gordon

EXPRESS NOTES:
New Hampshire in the Rearview: The 15th-place finish at New Hampshire last weekend certainly wasn’t the start to the 2007 Chase for the Nextel Cup that Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx Racing team were hoping for or expecting. Starting 14th, Hamlin never had the handling he needed to seriously contend and, despite continually improving the race car, it wasn’t enough to challenge the leaders.

Hamlin at Dover International Speedway: Despite being widely regarded as one of the Cup Series’ trickier tracks and a place that Hamlin admits has not been easy to learn, the #11 FedEx Racing team’s performances at the Monster Mile suggest that they are fairly comfortable at the high-banked track. In three Cup starts, Hamlin has recorded two top-ten finishes and one eleventh-place finish. He posted his best finish here in June, but started from his lowest starting position. In five Busch Series starts at Dover, Hamlin has recorded one pole and three top-ten finishes.

Dover International Speedway Car of Tomorrow Chassis JGR 166 and JGR 154: This will be the third start of the 2007 season, and second at Dover International Speedway, for JGR Chassis 166. This car recorded a fourth place finish at Dover in June and Hamlin drove this car to a second-place finish at Darlington in May after leading a career-high 179 laps. Backup chassis 154 has made four NNCS starts in 2007, most recently at Bristol where engine failure forced Hamlin from the race after 209 laps.

Q&A with Denny Hamlin:
Dover’s reputation precedes it. What is it about this track that makes it difficult? “It’s extremely fast and there is any number of ways to get in trouble at Dover. The racing is close, and these cars are really aero sensitive so passing usually means working guys for several laps. Once you figure out where your car works there you can get into a rhythm and that helps. It’s a physical track and that was an issue for me last year in the Chase. I was as worn out after that race as I had been in my career. I was much better suited for this track in June having been on a workout program to get in better shape. I could really tell a difference in the way I felt both after the race and then on the day after.”

You were good at Dover in June. Do you expect a similar race this time out?: “Unlike a lot of the tracks we visit two times a year, in different seasons, the surface at Dover seems a little less susceptible to the weather and conditions. That should allow us to being back a set up that is pretty close to what we ran here in the June. We had a good car here earlier this year. If we can come back with similar setup and feel, I’ll be happy.”

Not the start to the Chase you had hoped for at New Hampshire. Does this change your approach? “It’s easy to go back and think about what you could have done differently to change the outcome in New Hampshire but I know it won’t affect the way we prepare for the rest of the Chase. We made the decision to approach the Chase as we had approached races all season and that’s what we’ll continue doing. There are a lot of laps left in this Chase and some of opportunities to win races and challenge for the championship. That’s all we are focused on right now.”

New Hampshire was a tough COT race for the #11 team, especially considering just how good you’ve been. What was different about it from your perspective? “We’ve had really good cars in the COT races so we expect to go out and challenge for wins. To finish 15th is not a disaster by any means but we think we had better than a 15th-place car. Honestly, it was just incredibly hard to pass. There were long stretches in that race when and I knew I was faster than the cars in front of me but I couldn’t pass. I could chase them down but I would lose all grip when I pulled up to pass and that was pretty frustrating.”

How important has qualifying become in the COT? “It always helps to qualify well but it may be more important at the shorter tracks were we run the COT because it’s so hard to pass. At New Hampshire, these cars really benefited from clean air so starting and staying up front was a huge advantage. Dover may be different, but the tight pit road there gives you a different sort of incentive to go out and qualify well. I haven’t had great qualifying runs in the Cup car at Dover in the past, but I have been able to make it up. Hopefully we can avoid having to come back through the field this week and get a good starting spot on Friday.”