Hamlin looking for his third Pocono victory
Although he was unable to make it three wins in a row at Pocono Raceway this spring, Denny Hamlin remains confident going into this weekend's Pennsylvania 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race at the Long Pond, Pa., facility.
Denny Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing team swept both wins at the flat 2.5-mile track in 2006, but settled for sixth at the race there earlier this season. Not that yet another top-10 was anything to be ashamed of. Not many teams return to tracks where they have two wins and a sixth in three appearances.
So Denny Hamlin definitely understands what it takes to win at Pocono. So can he do that again Sunday? Denny Hamlin sure thinks so.
And why not? He's second in the Nextel Cup driver standings and has 11 top-10 finishes in 20 races this season.
Denny Hamlin led a race-high 49 laps at Pocono earlier this year before getting out of pit sequence and then watching the race cut short because of rain.
Denny Hamlin even has a little extra incentive. Coming off three straight races with finishes of 17th or worse, he's looking to regain some momentum in the season's second half.
"To have a couple of races in a row that just haven't gone our way is frustrating for sure," Denny Hamlin said. "For this team, it seems like even those races where we've had mistakes or problems, we've still turned in pretty good finishes, so to go a couple of weeks without a top-10 is a little out of character. I have no doubt we'll bounce back. We have great cars, and I feel like I am getting better as a driver, so we feel that we have a real shot at a championship. Hopefully we're just working the kinks out now and will have them behind us come the Chase [For The Nextel Cup]."
Only six races remain before the field is set for the Chase, NASCAR's 10-race, title-determining segment of the season. While Denny Hamlin is virtually locked into the 12-driver field, he'd still like to have a momentum boost heading into that segment. He's also like more wins and the 10-point bonus awarded those once the Chase begins.
"We've had some off weeks by our standards, but we still feel we are in good shape heading toward the Chase," he said. " We would like to get a win or two to help with the bonus situation heading into the Chase, but we feel competitive and really good about the schedule. Jeff Gordon has a big lead built up and there are a bunch of guys, Tony [Stewart] especially, who seem to be hitting their strides right now.
"That's just what really good teams and drivers do this time of the year, and we want to make sure we're on the same plan."
