Hamlin Steady in Michigan, Moves to Second in Points

With the last few weeks of NASCAR Busch Series competition being dominated with short tracks and a road course, the #20 Rockwell Automation / Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet headed to the 2-mile track at Michigan International Speedway.  Driver Denny Hamlin would be juggling both Cup and Busch duties all weekend and it was again up to the entire #20 team to ensure that the Rockwell Automation Chevrolet would be a top finisher.  

As NASCAR Busch Series practice began late Friday morning, Hamlin’s lap times lacked a quick lap, but his car was consistently quicker than most cars over the long run.  The team managed to stay within the top-ten in both practices, but was still concerned with Saturday afternoon’s qualifying.  The team put in a massive effort Saturday morning making sure that Hamlin’s car would be able to rotate through the corner.
 
On top of the uncertainty with the car’s setup going into qualifying, inclement weather, scheduling changes and an early qualifying draw seemed to also plague the #20 team.  With all of these factors seemingly playing against Hamlin, he still managed to turn out a lap time of 39.411 seconds (182.690 mph).  The time was better than expected, but with the majority of the field still left to qualify many wondered if the time would hold.  By the time qualifying had ended, several drivers had bested the time, but Hamlin still managed to stay in the top-five as the #20 lined up fifth in the starting grid.  

As the green flag dropped on the Carfax 250 Saturday afternoon, it was still up in the air as how the #20 machine would fair.  After an exciting 15 laps of racing, Hamlin radioed in that the car was “big time loose, but fast and starting to tighten up as the run goes on”.  As Crew Chief Dave Rogers continued to probe Hamlin, they chose to leave the handling alone and wait for the track to tighten up.  Hamlin stayed in top ten for the majority of the race, but showed off the strength of his car late into the run.  As the competitors’ times started to fall off, Hamlin’s car stayed consistent.  Running in the fourth position and catching the leaders at a rate of four tenths of a second per lap, an unwanted caution flew with 25 laps to go.  Deciding to take four tires with a small adjustment to tighten up the car, Hamlin returned to the track in 13th position with several cars electing not to pit or just take right side tires.  Hamlin spent the remainder of the race working his way through traffic, but was only able to muster up a sixth place finish.

The sixth place finish was the highest of all drivers in the Busch Championship hunt.  A last lap incident between Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr. resulted in the #60 machine of Carl Edwards being spun out of contention for the race.  Edwards’ misfortune ended up benefiting Hamlin’s position in the NASCAR Busch Series Drivers’ Points Standing as he climbed another spot to 2nd.  

“This is the best car I have ever had at a two mile track,” commented Hamlin following the race.  “We just could not get going on new tires.  This car was a rocket from the middle of the run on.  Overall, we gained a spot in the points and get to head back to short track racing next week.”