Late Race Accident cost Hamlin a Top-Five Finish

The teams returned to the restrictor plate racing as they tackled the longest track on the Busch Series Circuit, Talladega Superspeedway. After his performance earlier this year at Daytona, Hamlin and the #20 car was excited to return to restrictor plate racing.

Thursday was spent practicing and qualifying the #20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet. During practice, Hamlin was strong and had no problem working is way to the front of the drafting packs. In qualifying, he continued to show the strength of the car as he qualified in the third position, a career best starting position in Busch Series competition.

On Saturday, the Busch Series Cars were forced to wait out a three and half hour rain delay before roaring to life. Hamlin quickly showed the strength of his #20 machine as he moved into the 2^nd position. Working the draft and maintaining a spot in the top five, Hamlin was riding a long with teammate J.J. Yeley in tow when contact in the rear of the 18 car sent it spinning up the track. The result was a 16 car wreck that red flagged the race for 17 minutes.
Hamlin followed the leaders to pit road for four tires & fuel. Returning to the track in the 9^th position, he took little time to return to the front. Within two laps, Hamlin had returned to the top-five and continued to work the draft with the leaders.

With a multi car wreck on lap 51 (7 laps shy of half way) and rain appearing on the radar, Crew Chief Cully Barraclough called for Hamlin to return to pit road for fuel and four tires. With several cars staying out & some taking two tires, Hamlin returned to the track in 16^th position.

“I knew some cars would gamble on the rain,” commented Barraclough. “But this car was too strong. We needed to make sure we did not risk running out of fuel and with four tires, we should be back up front in no time.”

As the race restarted, Hamlin began picking and choosing his spots around the track to work his way to the front. After taking lap 63 in the ninth position, Spotter Curtis Markham mentioned that he was starting to feel rain drops. When the caution flew on lap 64, Hamlin quickly had moved to the third position. The rain would not last and the race restarted.

On lap 83, Hamlin was running in the fourth position when the 87 car of Joe Nemechek moved to the high line. Seeing an opening, Hamlin moved to the inside of Nemechek on his way to front. In an attempt to block Hamlin’s progress, Nemechek turned down on Hamlin. Hamlin’s car made contact with the 87 car which triggered a nine car accident, including many of the front runners. Hamlin would finish 28^th , 38 laps down from eventual race winner Martin Truex Jr.

“I am really disappointed,” commented Hamlin after leaving the infield care center. “We had one of the strongest cars in the field and we were ready to have a really good points day. I had nowhere to go. I had moved down the track as far as could without making contact with the 38 (car on the inside) and the 87 just kept coming. If I would have lifted, I would have gotten run over from behind.”

“I do want to thank the guys in the fab shop. This is the same car that ran so well at Daytona and we were involved in a last lap wreck, but they rebuilt it as good as the first one.”