Three straight third-place finishes later and the #20 JGR / Rockwell Automation team was looking for their chance to end up in victory lane at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis.  The team had been happy with their string of consecutive top-five finishes, but hoped they could capitalize on a great setup and performance from driver Denny Hamlin.  

Hamlin was back to dual series driving this week as the Nextel Cup Series was racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Busch Series raced down the street at ORP.  Saturday would prove to be a busy day as it would start out with a Busch Series Practice, hop on a helicopter to IMS for Cup qualifying, then helicopter to Busch second practice, back to IMS for two happy hour sessions in his Cup car and then back to ORP for qualifying and a Busch Race.  

Hamlin’s return for the second Busch practice was a surprise for the team as he only allowed himself 30 minutes before his afternoon practices in his Nextel Cup car.  His perseverance paid off, and the setup learned in the second practice allowed the #20 car to lay down a qualifying lap of 110.442 MPH later that evening and win his six Busch Pole Award of the season.

 “This pole is a tribute to the effort Denny gave us today,” commented Crew Chief Dave Rogers.  “The race at the Brickyard is one of the most prestigious races of the season for the Nextel Cup teams and most of the drivers pulling double duty only participated in one practice here.  But Denny went straight from qualifying to come back, get in the car and make it even better.  The whole team really appreciates the commitment he makes to this car.”

It would be a late night as the field took the flag at the scheduled time of 9:00 p.m.  Hamlin was challenged for a lap or two by second place Ron Hornaday but quickly pulled away from the competition and established a 2 second advantage over the field.  Although the first 40 laps were littered with cautions, Hamlin continued to pull away after each restart.  By Lap 54, a debris caution flew and the #20 team remained on the track as all but four lead lap cars headed to pit road.  Just 23 laps later, the 7th caution of the evening flew for a spin on the backstretch.  The remaining cars ducked to pit road but the #20 car remained on the track.

“Last week we felt we gave away a race because of our pit strategy,” said Rogers.  “This week, Denny and I sat down and discussed how we wanted to play this out.  We decided we would pit on the first caution after lap 75 and our second stop after lap 125.  The first stop would give us enough fuel to finish the race if we had a long green flag run to the finish but two stops would be ideal.  Being the leader, we didn’t have anyone else’s strategy to go off.  We stayed on at lap 54 and most of the cars pitted.  At that point, we were stuck. Our only option was to wait to halfway and make it a one stop affair.  Had we pitted during the lap 77 caution, we would have been dropped back to 30th and had a lot of traffic to deal with.  We knew were going to be sitting ducks to the cars with fresh tires, but as good as our car was and with the best short track driver in the country behind the wheel, I was confident he could stay with the leaders.”

In a bit of bad luck the longest green flag run of the evening ensued.  Hamlin would hold the lead for another 12 laps until surrendering it to eventual winner Kevin Harvick.  Hamlin would maintain the second place position until lap 115 when his used up Goodyears finally started to give up.  In a dire situation, Hamlin only had fuel for about 30 more laps of racing.  The much needed caution flew at lap 131.  Hamlin quickly brought the car to the attention of the crew and they were able to gain three spots returning Hamlin field in the fourth position.  After the restart, Hamlin quickly jumped to third and began his assault on the leaders.  Contact from the lapped machine John Andretti pushed in Hamlin’s front fender causing the #20 car to push badly.  Hamlin would ride it out until the final caution with 12 laps to go.  Hamlin abandoned his 7th position and ducked to pit road, grabbed four new tires and had his damaged fender fixed.  He returned to the track in the 22nd position but used the final laps to put on an all-star show and drive up to the 8th position at the checkered flag.

“It was a rough night for us,” commented Hamlin following the race.  “We had a great car and a couple breaks just did not go our way.  We started to get tight at the end, especially in the center of the corner so I had to come get the fender fixed.  It is not our best race, but we finished in the top-ten and gained a position in the Drivers’ Points.  I have begun to love road courses, so I am really looking forward to next week.”

The eighth place finish moved Denny Hamlin to third in Busch Series Driver Points.  With a string of top-ten finishes that goes back to mid-July and bringing the same machine that won the road course race in Mexico City, the #20 team confidently heads to the 2.45 mile road course at Watkins Glen.  The Zippo 200 will run on Saturday August 12, 2006 at 2:10pm.  The race will air on NBC and broadcast on MRN.