Hamlin Suffers Rough Weekend at Phoenix

Riding a wave of momentum, Hamlin and the #20 Rockwell Automation / JGR team headed to Phoenix with two consecutive pole positions and  three top-ten finishes in the last three races.  Phoenix was a track that Hamlin saw a lot of success at in 2005, but a tight car and a flat tire would lead to some disastrous results.

In both practices, the team fought a car that just was not handling the way the team hoped.  Before qualifying, the team made major changes in hopes of freeing up the car.  During qualifying, the changes failed to help and Hamlin would start from the 12th position.

“The car is just not handling the way we hoped,” commented Crew Chief Dave Rogers.  “It is not from a lack of effort though.  We met last night and came up with what we thought was a good plan.  The crew worked their tail off this morning to get all these changes on the car before qualifying.  We have built some adjustability into this car, so we’ll work on it throughout the night and see what happens.”

As the sun started to set, the engines were fired for 200 laps of side by side racing.  Hamlin was good early, moving into the top ten quickly.  When the caution flew on lap 17, Hamlin reported that the car was extremely tight and in an effort to protect some track position, they would pit on the next caution for some major changes.  Unfortunately the next caution would not come in the next 60 laps, so Hamlin would be forced to make a green flag pit stop for tires and fuel on lap 85.  By the time the field shook out, Hamlin was running in the 14th position on the same lap as the leader.      

When the caution flag flew on lap 96, Hamlin commented that the changes did not help, so he returned to pit road for some more changes in an attempt to free up his vehicle.  This time the crew made more major changes including removing to rear spring rubbers.  As the race restarted, Hamlin immediately commented the car was much better and borderline too loose.  As he began to work his way through the field, he called in to the pits that the he felt like he had a rear tire going down.  With several cars jumping to his inside, Hamlin missed the pit entrance on the first attempt and as he was coming off turn two, the tire let go and sent Hamlin spinning down the backstretch.  Hamlin was able to keep the car off the wall; however, the #78 car of Jerry Robertson was unable to get slowed down and made heavy contact with Hamlin’s machine.  The car would be damaged beyond repair and Hamlin would have to settle with a 39th place finish.  This would be Hamlin’s first DNF (Did Not Finish) of the season.

“It has just been a rough weekend,” commented Hamlin following the race.  “This car was really good at the test at Richmond a couple weeks ago, but it just has not responded at all to the changes this weekend.  We were just trying to hang on and finish in the top ten, but now we are going head to Talladega with a lot of work to do.”