Denny Hamlin on team working through growing pains: ‘I’d be nervous’ without Daytona 500 win

A Daytona 500 victory brought career significance to Denny Hamlin, who scored the biggest win of his life in a record closest finish of NASCAR’s signature event.

But it also has brought an unexpectedly necessary measure of championship security, too.

With only four top 10s in 11 races, Hamlin ranks 13th in the points standings but is virtually guaranteed to make the playoffs via the Daytona victory that clinched a provisional berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Of the 16-driver field for the 10-race playoffs, only six spots have been secured through wins through the first 11 of 26 regular season races.

“I’d be nervous (without the win),” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said last week. “I think in the long run, essentially so many cars are in the Chase now, you have to just be mediocre and not terrible to make the Chase. I feel pretty confident that we can get there no matter what, but it is comforting knowing we got the win.

“I thought it would be more seamless. I came off Daytona, ran top five a few times with a chance to win and thought, ‘Oh this is going to be cake. We’re going to be a home run.’ ”

After Daytona, Hamlin led 10 laps at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and finished third at Phoenix International Raceway and Auto Club Speedway. But he has only one top 10 (sixth at Richmond International Raceway) in the past six races.

“I think we’re starting to see some communication lapses,” he said. “We’re working on it, though. I think every week is getting better, but we’re still seeing these unknown situations pop up where we’re like, ‘What do we do?’ It’s just part of it.”

A 37th place finish in Saturday’s Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway was a microcosm of the turbulent start to Hamlin’s first season with crew chief Mike “Wheels” Wheeler, who moved into NASCAR’s premier series after four wins in the Xfinity Series last year.

Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota was clocked as too fast twice in the pits (bringing his series-high total to six speeding penalties in 2016). The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had rebounded to contend for a top five before crashing on an aggressive pass with 26 laps remaining.

He at least exhibited speed on the 1.5-mile oval, where he also qualified third Friday. His Camry hadn’t been keeping pace as well lately with teammates Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth.

“We definitely haven’t run as good” since Daytona, Hamlin said May 2 during an event for team sponsor Hisense. “We’re having growing pains right now for sure. I think a lot of it is Wheels’ new role (and) communicating with (spotter) Chris Lambert and myself.”

During a 31st at Talladega Superspeedway, Hamlin took the blame for “a communication glitch” that led to a pit miscue.

“I didn’t process the information I was getting from them,” he said. “I think it’s just new, and I’ve had a lot of issues on pit road this year.”

Hamlin also was caught for speeding entering the pits at Martinsville Speedway, and he finished 39th after “wheel-hopping” his car and crashing while pushing to regain spots.

“I’ve made some mistakes on races like Martinsville where I definitely feel like I could have won,” he said. “We’ve had some decent runs, but we haven’t been as strong as some of our teammates, but I think it’s coming. I feel like it’s just taking me and Wheels some time to get on the same page on some things. I’m confident.”
Hamlin, 35, has proclaimed Wheeler, a longtime engineer on his No. 11, as the last crew chief of his NASCAR career, and he reaffirmed his faith in the pairing while mulling his season on the trip home from Talladega.

“I was thinking, ‘This is just part of our process,’ and we’re going to look back on this probably a year from now and say, ‘Man, we weren’t very good at all (in) early ’16, but we got it together,’ ” he said. “So I’m pretty sure we’ll get it all figured out.

“The cool thing for us is we won the Daytona 500, and we have the entire summer to work out these kinks.”

100K cams 2015 NSCS - TALLADEGA GEICO 500

Get ready for the latest installment of 100K Cameras, this time from the 2015. Taladega Superspeedway Tune in to FS1 Saturday, May 3rd at 6:30pm EST.

100K Cameras comes to you from Daytona

Get ready for the latest installment of 100K Cameras, this time from the 2016 Daytona 500. Tune in to FS1 Saturday, February 27th at 6:30pm EST.

Watch: Synchronized spins near end of Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway

A wild incident late in the GoBowling.com 400 at Kansas Speedway resulted in two spinning cars despite no contact between them.

Running in the top five on Lap 241 of 267, Denny Hamlin attempted to split the cars of Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson entering turn 3. Hamlin lost control of his No. 11 Toyota just as Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford also began to spin.

Hamlin then tagged Larson’s No. 42 Chevrolet and also pinned Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford up against the outside wall.

“I was going in there three-wide,” said Hamlin, who was trying to rebound from two earlier speeding penalties.. “I wasn’t letting off, and (Larson) was just too close up there. It wasn’t his fault by any means, but we were both trying to drive in there to clear each other, and I just got loose.

“I mean that’s crazy there was no contact, but both me and (Keselowski) got loose there. … I was just going for it. I’ve got the win and that’s part of this format is going for it and that’s what we did.”

Logano got the worst of it, finishing 38th. Though not locked into the playoffs with a victory, he still fell only two spots to seventh in the points standings.

“We made some good changes on it and actually made it to where I thought it was a possible winning car with all the circumstances going right,” he said. “It’s just racing.  Things happen sometimes.”

Ryan Blaney misses late wreck, leaves Kansas with first top-five finish of season

KANSAS CITY, Kansas — Ryan Blaney got help from friends in earning his first top-five finish of the year.

Unfortunately, that help wasn’t voluntary.

On Lap 241 of the 267-lap Go Bowling 400, Blaney was running seventh when a three-car accident unfolded in front of him involving Denny Hamlin and Team Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

Blaney, who calls Keselowski and Logano teammates through a technical alliance with Penske and Wood Brothers Racing, slipped past the wreck.

“I didn’t see who got loose, who got into who, I just saw smoke and had to bail out of there,” Blaney said. “Actually think it hurt my car a little bit.  I had to bail to the apron and it hurt the nose a little bit, which was unfortunate, but luckily we were able to get by that and move on.”

Blaney would finish fifth, his second top-five finish of his career after placing fourth at Talladega Superspeedway in 2015.

“We got some spots with that little accident, but we were up there all day,” said Blaney, who had an average running spot of 7.3 during the race at Kansas Speedway.

Blaney ran as high as second, but couldn’t close the gap on the leaders during the final 18 laps.

“The top two (Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth) were on old tires and I’m like, ‘We might be able to be all right,’” Blaney said. “But we just couldn’t get by those guys and held on.”

The top five is just the fourth for Wood Brothers Racing since 2008. Before this year, it’s last full-time season was in 2008. With support from Penske, Blaney has four top-10 finishes through the first 11 races of the season.
“That’s the most competitive we’ve been all race long in quite a while,” team co-owner Len Wood said in a press release. “Ryan did a great job, and the pit crew was spot-on.”

Blaney’s performance came about 24 hours after he learned his father, former Sprint Cup driver Dave Blaney, had been in a violent sprint car crash at Eldora Speedway.

The elder Blaney didn’t receive any major injuries and was released from the hospital Saturday.

“I knew last night he was gonna be all right,” said the rookie driver, who believed his father had arrived back home in time to watch his race. “It scared me for one second because we got done qualifying yesterday and I get back to the motorhome and I left my phone in the bus and I got all these text messages like, ‘Heard the news.  Is everything alright?’”

Ryan Blaney said he wasn’t distracted by thoughts of his father’s incident, but that he hadn’t seen video of the wreck and probably wouldn’t.

“He’s gonna be all right,” Ryan Blaney said. “He’s probably mad he’s gonna be out of sprint cars for a little bit, but that’s the only thing he’ll be upset about.”

If Dave Blaney was watching Saturday night, he definitely didn’t have anything more to be upset about.

Bad luck, not bad strategy, dooms Martin Truex Jr.’s chance at Kansas win

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Sitting atop the pit box for Furniture Row Racing, crew chief Cole Pearn allowed himself a pleasant thought.

“Man, maybe we’re going to ease into this one,” Pearn contemplated.

The No. 78 driven by Martin Truex Jr., had taken the pole and the No. 1 pit stall that came with it and was running away with the Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Truex was in the process of racking up the most laps led in the race for the second straight year. Twelve months after leading 95 laps in the spring race at Kansas, Truex would total 172, a team record for Furniture Row Racing.

Then came Lap 212.

That’s when Truex pitted from the lead for what should have been his final stop of the night.

Should have.

The second Truex left the pit box at the end of pit road, his Toyota began shaking.

“‘You got to be kidding’ me was my reaction,” Truex said following the race, once again leaning against his car in defeat rather than standing on it in celebration.

With 55 laps left, Truex tried thinking of a reason his car was misbehaving at the worst possible time.

“Maybe it’s shaking because it’s got tape on it or something stupid,” Truex thought.

It wasn’t tape or a lack of lug nuts. All four tires were on tight.

“A bolt that holds that right-front brake hat, one of the heads broke off for whatever reason,” Pearn said. “(It) holds the brake rotor on basically. The small head of the bolt broke off and got hung in the wheel when it went on.”

That’s what forced Truex back to pit road on Lap 215. When the No. 78 returned to the action, Truex was a lap down.

“You always know there’s the possibility of those things happening, you just hope they’re earlier in the race so you can overcome them,” said Truex. “We certainly had a car fast enough we could have overcome it if it was earlier.”

Two late cautions would allow Truex to return to the lead lap, but he ran out of time, finishing 14th. When Truex emerged from his car on pit road, he was approached by an apologetic Joe Gibbs. Furniture Row Racing is aligned with Gibbs’ organization.

“The pit crew guys train at his place, so he felt responsible,” Truex said. ” (He) just wanted to let me know what it was.”

For once, it was bad luck.

It’s the second race of the year Truex has led the most laps and failed to win. During the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Truex led 141 laps. Then under a late caution, Pearn called the No. 78 to pit road and had to watch as the rest of the leaders stayed out.

Busch won, Truex finished sixth.

Last year under the Kansas lights, Pearn had Truex pit for fuel during a late caution. In his rear-view mirror, Truex had to watch as the rest of the field stayed on the track.

Jimmie Johnson won, Truex finished ninth.

Truex would lead the most laps – 131 each – in the next two races at Charlotte and Dover, but fail to win. He finally broke through at Pocono Raceway the week after Dover.

The No. 78 hasn’t been back to victory lane since.

“It’s frustrating when you’ve had it happen so many times in your career,” said Truex, who leaves Kansas 10th in points. “I swear, you watch guys win races that don’t have the best car, on fuel mileage and all this stuff and it’s like, damn. Someday I’m going to get on the (right) side of one of them. It’s usually dominate and don’t win.”

But even while on the wrong side of circumstance once again, Truex recognizes he’s in the best place he’s been during his 11 seasons racing full-time in the Sprint Cup Series.

“Without a doubt, that’s why I don’t get down and lose my mind when things like this happen,” Truex said. “We’re going to win races. Whether we win four or one before the Chase, it really doesn’t matter, we won one last year and we made it to the final four.”

And then there’s Pearn, who allowed himself to contemplate the possibility of a well-earned win.

The second-year crew chief has one win with Truex, but sticking the landing a second time is proving difficult. How does he keep his spirits up?

“You’ve got no choice, I think maybe last year, I was mad after this one last year, but now I’ve experienced going through it,” Pearn said. “We’re obviously doing something right, but we’re not doing something else right.”

Could Kansas race be start of something special for a Sprint Cup team?

It was about this time a year ago that Joe Gibbs Racing began making its push toward dominance and a Sprint Cup championship.

Can someone else make that move this month?

Tonight’s race at Kansas Speedway begins a key stretch for NASCAR Sprint Cup teams. Three of the next four races, including the Sprint All-Star Race, will be at 1.5-mile tracks — Kansas, the All-Star race at Charlotte and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.

After this stretch, teams will race on one more 1.5-mile track (Kentucky in July) before the Chase begins in September. Five of the 10 Chase races are on 1.5-mile speedways.

Last May, Denny Hamlin won the Sprint All-Star Race for Joe Gibbs Racing and Carl Edwards followed with a win in the Coca-Cola 600.

“It just seems like since that point they have been the cars to beat,’’ Jamie McMurray said of JGR. “The No. 4 car (Kevin Harvick) has still been really quick. Maybe not quite as quick as he was last year, but he is still fairly quick, but the Gibbs cars just since last May have been the cars to beat.’’

The success continued for the Gibbs cars after last May. Kyle Busch won at Kentucky. Hamlin made it four in a row on 1.5-mile tracks by winning at Chicagoland Speedway to open the playoffs. Although the streak ended at Kansas with Joey Logano’s victory, Busch went on to win at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a 1.5-mile track, to capture the title.

Entering tonight’s race, Busch is tied with Jimmie Johnson with the best average finish (2.7) in the first three races on 1.5-mile tracks. Busch won at Texas, the most recent race on a 1.5-mile track. Johnson won at Atlanta. Brad Keselowski won at Las Vegas.

While McMurray and Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyle Larson have struggled on these tracks this season, McMurray is hopeful that tonight will change their fortunes and season.

“They’ve learned quite a bit of stuff in the wind tunnel that we are going to apply this weekend that I think will make a big difference,’’ McMurray said of his Ganassi team. “And I’ve said this for the last couple of years and over the winter, that to me, if you can get your 1.5-mile program good, it carries you through the road course and the short tracks. It’s just so important to be good at the 1.5-mile tracks.’’

Best average finish on 1.5-mile tracks this season (3 races)

2.7 — Kyle Busch

2.7 — Jimmie Johnson

4.0 — Dale Earnhardt Jr.

5.7 — Joey Logano

7.3 — Kurt Busch

7.7 — Kevin Harvick

8.0 — Martin Truex Jr.

9.3 — Brad Keselowski

10.0 — Carl Edwards

11.7 — Austin Dillon