Denny Hamlin brings plenty of confidence into Talladega Superspeedway
By SceneDaily Staff
Friday, October 03, 2008
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TALLADEGA, Ala. – Denny Hamlin might be further down in the Chase For The Sprint Cup standings than he would like to be, but the Joe Gibbs Racing driver isn’t ready to concede defeat.
Hamlin, who will start Sunday’s Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway 10th in the standings and 243 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson, feels confident that the seven remaining races are enough to rally and make a title run.
The only question is if he will.
“I think we’re definitely a part of [the title chase] - it’s a long way to go,” said Hamlin, who was 26th fastest in Friday’s first practice. “I was thinking about it, and other than those first three guys [Johnson, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle], say they all get in a wreck and we gain 130 points then we’re 100 out. So are we out of it? No. I definitely don’t think we’re out of it by any means.”
Part of Hamlin’s optimism stems from a number of upcoming tracks where he has had some success in the past. One of those tracks, Martinsville Speedway, is the place where Hamlin notched his lone victory of the season earlier this year. The Chesterfield, Va., native has finished worse than eighth just once in six Martinsville starts and also has a pole at the track.
The series returns to the .526-mile oval in two weeks.
“You have some guys that are in the Chase that don’t particularly run well at Martinsville and some guys that do,” Hamlin said. “It’s a track that we always look at that we can make up a few points. Jimmie [Johnson] as the leader is going to be hard because he runs really well there, but we can obviously gain on some guys that are in front of us in points right now. We have some good tracks coming up for us for sure.”
Hamlin also cautions against declaring teammate Kyle Busch’s title hopes null and void even though he is last among the 12 Chase drivers after three playoff events.
“When we get to [the season finale at] Homestead it could be less than three people [going] for the championship or more than that,” Hamlin said. “We don’t know. You can’t count anybody in the top 12 out three races in because all the bad luck that Kyle has had or myself has had over the last couple weeks, the other guys are prone to it also. Until they’re mathematically out if it, there’s no way.”
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Denny Hamlin
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