Charlotte’s Turn 2 Proves to be Rough Spot for Hamlin and #20 Team

The NASCAR Busch Series left Richmond two weeks ago, and many teams looked forward to a weekend off. The #20 team spent the weekend at home in North Carolina but continued to work on improvements as they focused on Charlotte. Denny Hamlin and his teammates had a successful test there two weeks ago and felt confident going into the Carquest Auto Parts 300 on Saturday, May 28. However, the weekend would present many obstacles for the crew to overcome in order to be successful.
 
The weekend schedule consisted of a busy Friday, with practice and qualifying for Saturday night’s race. After just a few laps on the track, Hamlin and his #20 Rockwell Automation team hit their first rough patch of what would prove to be a rocky weekend. The team spent the first few laps of the first morning practice to scuff a few sets of tires for the race. They then began to work on the car setup to improve the handling for Hamlin. It took only one lap for Hamlin to realize the car was way too loose. He spun around in Turn 2 and scraped the wall with the rear of his machine.
 
After examining the damage, Crew Chief Cully Barraclough decided it would be better to pull out the backup car instead of spending precious practice time to fix the primary. That provided enough time in the second practice for Hamlin and the crew to work strictly in race trim. They weren’t sure of what to expect when qualifying rolled around. Hamlin’s first lap was 4 ^th -quickest out of 21 cars. Unfortunately, as he continued to dig for a better time on his second lap, he got loose again in Turn 2 and hit the outside wall hard, damaging the car beyond repair.
 
With very few options left to work with, the crew was forced to return to the race shop to work throughout the evening on Friday in an attempt to salvage what they could for Saturday’s race. Several guys worked past midnight while several others came in before sunrise on Saturday morning to get the job done. They successfully repaired the primary car to its original condition and headed back to the racetrack.
 
The green flag flew at 7:22pm for the Carquest Auto Parts 300 and Denny Hamlin found himself starting in the 42 ^nd position due to the equipment changes. He quickly moved up several positions. He had moved up to 32 ^nd by the time the first caution came out on Lap 16 but still found that his #20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet was still too loose. Barraclough called him into the pits to add a round of wedge and fuel. After another caution and more pitstops by other teams, Hamlin had moved up to 14 ^th where he would stay for 39 laps. He had a scare on lap 70 when the #64 car spun in front of him, but Hamlin did a great job of avoiding the wreck.
Halfway through the race, the crew had the car handling more to the liking of their driver. And the results showed. Hamlin was making his way through the field and towards the Top 10. Running in the 14 ^th position with only 15 laps on his tires, Barraclough chose to leave Hamlin on the track as the majority of the field headed towards pit road.
 
“We knew everyone else was going to have to stop one more time, so why not try gain some track position,” commented Barraclough to television reporters. Hamlin led for a while until the fresher tires worked their way to the front. Hamlin was running ninth when he made is final pit stop of the evening. Trying to stay ahead of the tightening track, Barraclough made some aggressive calls that made the #20 machine too loose. Running in the ninth position, Hamlin tried to drive under the 11 car of Paul Mernard. As he did the car became loose and Hamlin spun in turn two for the third time of the weekend. Hamlin was able to keep it off the wall and return to pit road for service. Restarting in the 28 ^th position, Hamlin used the last 20 laps to gain as many positions as he could. He would finish on the lead lap in the 20 ^th position.
 
“I wish we could have had that last stop back,” commented Hamlin following the race. “We had a really good car, just got it too loose for the last run. I was doing everything I could just to hang on to it, but as the tires went away, it got real slick out there. I have to thank the guys in the shop; they put in a real late night to make sure I had a good fast car for the race tonight. I wish I could have brought them home a better finish.”