Engine trouble at Charlotte spoils Denny Hamlin's chances to rebound in Chase

By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer

Sunday, October 18, 2009

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CONCORD, N.C. – If Denny Hamlin’s NASCAR Sprint Cup title hopes suffered a blow last weekend at Auto Club Speedway in California, they in all likelihood completely vanished in Saturday night’s NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Hamlin finished 42nd after being forced to retire on lap 192 of 334 with engine trouble.

After falling from sixth to ninth in the standings with a self-inflicted accident in California, Hamlin lost two more spots at Charlotte and sits 11th in the standings – 372 points out of the lead – with five races to go.

"We're definitely done as far as the championship is concerned,” Hamlin said. “We're going to just keep fighting to stay in that top 10 - that's important to us right now. We're trying to get the best points finish that we can. The way that we're running, we belong up top. A couple mistakes two weeks in a row - one by the driver and one by a mechanical issue, it just takes you right out of it.

“That's the bad part and what's frustrating about the points system is that you can run really hard and win races in the first [26 races] and it just doesn't matter. One bad week in the last 10 just completely kills the season and that's what's happened.”

Both on Saturday and at California, Hamlin led and appeared to have a shot at victory before trouble came calling.

His Charlotte performance was perhaps his best ever at the 1.5-mile track, where he led four times for a total of 54 laps. Hamlin had led a total of just 28 laps over eight previous starts at Charlotte coming into the night.

“It's the best I've ever ran at this race track,” Hamlin said. “Had a shot to win it, felt like. I was being so patient behind those guys, not trying to push it and not show everything I had until the very end. [Crew chief] Mike [Ford] and the guys did a great job providing me a race-winning car. We just didn't have it all put together today.

“I couldn't be prouder. We're in contention to win every single one of these races, and just can't get it all together. Once we figure it out, we'll be all right."