Hamlin ready to take back JGR's No. 20 Nationwide ride
By Rea White - Associate Editor
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
- TEXT SIZE: Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Reset Text Size
- 4 Comments. Leave a Comment
- Digg This
- Add to Del.icio.us
- RSS Feeds
Jason Smith / Getty Images for NASCAR
Latest Headlines
- Select ticket prices at Talladega Superspeedway to drop
- JTG Daugherty Racing to scale back Nationwide teams for '09
- Dodge has a smaller Sprint Cup lineup and budget but has 'high hopes' for 2009
- Roy McCauley returns as crew chief for David Stremme's No. 12 Sprint Cup team
- Robby Gordon third in fifth stage of Dakar Rally
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin says he’s looking forward to driving the organization’s No. 20 Nationwide Series entry this weekend – especially since he thinks that he and crew chief Dave Rogers prepared the team for its current level of success.
Tony Stewart has driven that car to two victories this season, while Kyle Busch led 153 of the race’s 170 laps at Atlanta before a mechanical issue sidelined the team’s effort.
This weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, Hamlin steps into the car for the first time this season.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Hamlin said of Saturday's Sharpie Mini 500 race. “They’ve pretty much dominated all the races so far this season. It’s great to be able to work with Dave again, since we feel like we built the No. 20 car program together over the last three years. Our chemistry was really good last year, and I’m sure we’ll pick up where we left off this weekend.
“Hopefully, we can make up for the bad luck these guys have had the last couple of weeks.”
Hamlin admits it’s been difficult to sit on the sidelines and watch that team perform so well this season. Rogers and Hamlin earned five wins in the last three seasons with the team as well as 24 top-five and 50 top-10 finishes.
Now, he’s had to watch the team have the most success it’s ever had.
“It’s tough because I’m so used to the 20 car being my ride,” Hamlin said. “It’s just a testament to what Dave Rogers can do as a crew chief and how switching to Toyota has not only elevated our program on the Sprint Cup side but also in the Nationwide Series.
“We had to realign some things in our Nationwide Series program since Kyle wanted to run quite a few races. We brought him in, and you only have so many cars and sponsors. It’s been hard to watch from the sidelines over the past three weeks since it's so much fun to drive such a strong race car, but I think the most important thing for me was that I was able to give up a few races, so I could select some race tracks that I really like to run.”
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Denny Hamlin
Comments
4 responses to "Hamlin ready to take back JGR's No. 20 Nationwide ride"
bob parent said:
Mar 13, 2008 at 2:57 AMthe way denny's going should leave kyle and smoke in it
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportbob parent said:
Mar 13, 2008 at 2:57 AMthe way denny's going should leave kyle and smoke in it
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportbob parent said:
Mar 17, 2008 at 5:02 PMthe way denny's going should leave kyle and smoke in it
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Reportbob parent said:
Mar 17, 2008 at 5:02 PMthe way denny's going should leave kyle and smoke in it
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Report