Hamlin optimistic despite drama in Dover
Almost all of the dozen drivers battling it out in the Chase for the Nextel Cup were left scarred by some kind of a problem in Sunday's Dodge Dealers 400 at Dover International Speedway.
However, none of them left the race track with quite as big of a headache as Denny Hamlin, who was involved in a mid-race crash with Kyle Petty and finished 38th, the lowest of the Chase drivers.
Denny Hamlin dropped to 12th in the Chase standings, 158 points behind leader Jeff Gordon, and was virtually eliminated from any realistic shot at winning this year's championship.
Just don't tell that to Denny Hamlin.
"When you have 12 guys, it's going to be tough for anyone to really get on a roll without having problems," Denny Hamlin said. "Yeah, it would have been a great day to capitalize on [all of the Chase drivers' troubles].
"It just wasn't our day. It's just circumstances that took us out of the race. A lot of guys had trouble, so it's not such a devastating blow for us."
Last weekend at Dover was a story of highs and lows for Denny Hamlin.
He had the fastest car in all of the Nextel Cup practice sessions and then went out and won Saturday's Busch Series race despite fighting off the effects of the flu.
Then, while running near the top five just after the halfway point in the Dodge Dealers 400, his weekend came unglued.
Denny Hamlin got into the rear end of Kyle Petty's car coming off the fourth corner and spun him around into the outside wall on the frontstretch. Both of their cars, plus Clint Bowyer's, were left with significant damage.
Petty was fuming after the incident and approached Denny Hamlin as he was sitting in his car in the garage area while his team made repairs.
He dropped Denny Hamlin's window net and started shouting, eventually flipping the visor on Denny Hamlin's helmet closed.
"I watched the Busch race and I knew Denny was sick, I just didn't know he was hallucinating and needed three lanes to get up off the corner, because he ran all over us," Petty said. "I guess he is in a race by himself."
Both drivers had plenty of reasons to be upset.
Obviously, Denny Hamlin is gunning for a championship. Petty is trying his best to remain in the top 35 in the Nextel Cup owners' standings since those teams are guaranteed a starting position in each week's race.
Petty left Dover 34th in the owners' standings and one point ahead of the Wood Brothers' No. 21 team.
Still, Denny Hamlin was caught off guard by the normally laid-back Petty's reaction and eventually leaped out of his car after Petty tagged his helmet.
He had to be restrained by his pit crew members as he tried to chase Petty down.
"I think a lot of it was his frustration over this whole top-35 thing, but we're racing for bigger and better things," Denny Hamlin said. "Hopefully, one day, if [Petty] gets it turned around, I can exchange the favor.
"But, right now, we're the guys racing for the championship, so, you know, heed a little bit."
Denny Hamlin was extremely perturbed that Petty confronted him while he was still strapped inside of his race car.
"You don't come to my car; you don't come to my pit," Denny Hamlin said. "You meet me somewhere else and we'll settle it. I have the utmost respect for Kyle, but don't lay your hands on my head.
"I did not say one word to him. He chose to slap my helmet. I have a short fuse. Don't do that."
The fuses of the Chase drivers are obviously very short, as they have only 10 races to become the best among 12 drivers.
Denny Hamlin says that his disastrous day at Dover will not do him in.
"This is not over for us," he said. "A lot of guys had trouble and we're going to bounce back from this. This is just one step of this 10-week Chase."
In Denny Hamlin's case, he seemed to have stepped in a hole at Dover.
The big question is, can he find his way out?
