Coming off a successful weekend at Texas which featured Hamlin scoring his first career Busch Series Pole and a top-ten finish that vaulted him to second place in the Busch Series Driver’s Points Standings, the #20 Rockwell Automation / JGR Team headed to Nashville Superspeedway in search of their second victory of the year.

Both practices were considered successful as Hamlin posted lap times in the top-ten.  Crew Chief Dave Rogers was confident that with a few changes, they would have a top five starting spot.  As the 24th car to take a qualifying lap, Hamlin jumped to the top of the board.  He would have to wait out several fast cars and after three near misses, Hamlin was awarded his second Busch Pole Award in two weeks.

“I wasn’t sure that lap would hold up,” commented a relieved Hamlin after winning the pole.  “At first I didn’t think the lap was that good, because the car was a little loose.  After seeing 35 cars go out, you start to get excited and start thinking, ‘I have a chance at this’.  It is a boost for the whole team.  We will get a good pit stall and have a good look at the green flag.”

As the race started, Hamlin raced outside front row starter, Clint Bowyer, extremely hard for the first couple laps.  After losing the lead to Bowyer, fourth place Reed Sorensen pinched Hamlin down taking the air off his rear spoiler.  The result would send the #20 car sliding towards turn 2.  Hamlin regained control of his machine but lost several positions.  With his wheels back under him, Hamlin began his assault back to the front.  With a combination of a fast race car and a good pit stop, Hamlin assumed the lead on lap 70.  The lead would be short-lived as twelve laps later, Kevin Harvick would grab the lead.  Hamlin rode comfortably in second until the caution flag on lap 90.  Reporting that the car was just a little loose early in the run and extremely tight late in the run, Crew Chief Dave Rogers made some minor adjustments and the #20 team, with a stop under fourteen seconds, returned Hamlin first to the race track.

This time Hamlin would comfortably lead the race for the entire fuel cycle.  When the caution flew for debris on lap 161, Hamlin led the field to pit road for the final stop of the day.  The team gave Hamlin another great stop returning him to the track second, behind a car that only took two tires.  After the restart, it took Hamlin less than one lap to return to the top position.  Reporting that the car was loose, Crew Chief Dave Rogers reminded him to hang in there until the car got better.

“This track tightens up so fast,” said Crew Chief Dave Rogers.  “All day we were struggling with the same thing; loose early in the run, good in the middle and tight at the end of the run.  On the last stop, I made the decision to make some changes that would leave him a little looser early, but it would be much better in the middle and at the end of the run.  I am confident that I have the best driver in the Busch Series and I just need him to hang on to it for the first 20 laps of the run and then we should have a car good enough to pull away from them.”

Although Hamlin pulled away early, Harvick quickly started to charge back.  By lap 170, Harvick had jumped on the inside of Hamlin.  Hamlin refused to let him pass easily and raced him bumper to bumper for two laps.  While racing down the back stretch, the caution flag flew for a single car incident in turn two.  Although it appeared the nose of the #20 car was well ahead of Harvick, NASCAR ruled that the #21 car was ahead of the #20 car when the caution was displayed.  Hamlin was forced to surrender the position to Harvick.  Although he mounted a charge, the car was just too loose in traffic to attack.  Hamlin would drop all the way back to fifth until his car became dialed in and allowed him to charge back up to the third position when the checkered flag flew.

“We might not have had the best car today, but we were having the best race,” said Hamlin following the race.  “We had great pit stops, we were making great adjustments & we were doing a good job of protecting our track position.  The last run, when I was out front, I could race the car that loose.  When I got back in traffic, I just didn’t have as much room to race.  On the final stop, we made a decision that gave us the best chance to win the race.  I am disappointed that NASCAR put the #21 car ahead of us, because his nose wasn’t even up to my front tires when the caution came out.  But I just drive the cars and have to let them (NASCAR) make those decisions.  I am not going to say we would have won the race, but it would have given us a much better chance.  It is hard to be upset with third, but I know if I could have just held him for a couple of laps, we would have been able to check out from the rest of the field.”