Hamlin finishes 14th at Texas

After the rest and relaxation of an off weekend, the recharged #20 Rockwell Automation / JGR Team headed to Texas with a different look. During the off weekend, the team underwent some personnel changes and Cully Barraclough was tapped as Crew Chief for Denny Hamlin.

Although the car unrolled off the truck a little slow, the Hamlin and Barraclough combination continued to work on it throughout the practice. With each run they found a little more speed out of the #20 Rockwell Automation car. Later that afternoon, Hamlin used a qualifying lap of 28.613 seconds and secured the 9^th starting position for the race on Saturday.

On raceday, over 123,000 fans poured into Texas Motor Speedway to watch the Busch Series competitors battle for 300 miles. With temperatures in the high 70’s it was perfect weather for racing. As the field took the green flag, Hamlin was quickly on the move from his ninth starting position. By lap five, he had moved up to the sixth position. As the run continued, Hamlin reported that the car was extremely tight, especially off the corner. As the handling of the car started going away, so did the positions. By the time the first caution flag flew, on lap 19, Hamlin had dropped back to the 10^th position.
Following the leaders down pit road, Barraclough called for four tires with an air pressure adjustment and removal of a left rear spring rubber in an effort to loosen up the #20 machine. Hamlin returned to the track in the 13^th position and continued his assault on the front of the field. Shortly after the race restarted, Hamlin gained several positions early. But as the run continued, he radioed in that the car was better, but still way too tight. As the long run ensued, he began to lose positions.
Running in the 22^nd position near the end of a long green flag run, Barraclough called for a green flag stop on lap 91, about 10 laps short of their fuel window. Throwing on four new tires and four rounds on the track bar, the #20 team returned Hamlin to the track just under 17 seconds. Running in the 34^th position, Hamlin quickly climbed back into the top 20 as the rest of the field made stops for fuel. When the next caution flew on lap 112, Hamlin was in the 24^th position one lap down.

Barraclough called for the car to return to pit road for four tires and run at getting back on the lead lap. When the race restarted, Hamlin raced furiously to the front of the lap down cars and when the caution flag flew on lap 147, he was able to return to the lead lap as “the Lucky Dog”.

The final 50 laps would be marred with caution after caution. Hamlin was able to climb from the 19^th position to the 15^th position in the final laps. After a post race inspection violation of the #1 car, Hamlin was moved up to the 14^th position. With this finish, he moves to a tie for fifth place in the Busch Series Driver’s Points standings.

“We really fought this car all day,” said Hamlin following the race. “We were able to climb back on the lead lap, but just could not get the car to handle the way I needed to. I think the communication between Cully and I was real good. We seem to improve the car each time we worked on it & that is important. I am looking forward to going to Phoenix next week; I really enjoy the flat tracks.”