Top-30 drivers: Denny Hamlin
By SceneDaily Staff Report
Sunday, December 23, 2007
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Denny Hamlin enjoyed a stellar opening 26 races to the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season, setting himself up as the only driver capable of challenging the Hendrick Motorsports juggernaut of Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. But a problematic series of setbacks in the final 10 races dropped him to the bottom of the elite championship-contending group.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver only won once, but he was in the top five in the standings following 19 of the opening 26 races.
Hamlin, a 27-year-old native of Chesterfield, Va., competed in his second season of full-time Cup competition. In his 2006 rookie campaign, he won a pair of races at Pocono Raceway and finished third in the NASCAR standings. This season, he looked on track for that performance again but struggled in the Chase For The Nextel Cup.
During the offseason, SceneDaily is taking a look at the top 30 in 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup driver points, and here's how Hamlin's season unfolded:
By the numbers: Hamlin won one pole and one race. He earned 12 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes to finish 12th in the series standings, earning more than $5.8 million in purses.
Season highlights: Hamlin earned his lone win of the year at New Hampshire International Speedway. His performance was solid throughout the so-called regular season, though. He moved into the top 10 in the standings following the season's third race and remained there until the second race of the Chase. After two races in 12th, he returned to the top 10 until the final three events of the season.
Key setbacks: Actually, the Chase. Hamlin endured finishes of 15th, 38th and 29th in the first three races of the title-determining segment, then closed the year with a stretch of finishes of 24th, 29th and 16th before rallying for a third-place run in the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Newsworthy moment: Hamlin gained headlines as he continued his stellar performances of his rookie year. He also had a much-publicized dispute with teammate Tony Stewart that grew in proportion to the point that team owner Joe Gibbs flew to the race track to have a talk with the pair of drivers. Later in the year, Hamlin gained attention as he and his JGR organization announced plans to switch to Toyotas next season.
In his words: "We had an up-and-down season. It seemed like the first three-quarters was all good, and then the last 10 was just a struggle. You try your best to peak at the right time, but really, our performance stayed pretty much level for the full season. The luck at the end changed."
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Denny Hamlin
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