Denny Hamlin - # 11 FedEx Racing Chevrolet - California Preview
February 22, FEDEX RACING EXPRESS FACTS
AUTO CLUB 500 – CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY
RACE INFO:
Event: Auto Club 500
Date: Feb. 25, 2007
Track: California Speedway
Length: 2.0 miles
Shape: D-Shaped Oval
Distance: 250 laps/500 miles
Banking: 14 degrees
2006 winner: Matt Kenseth
2006 polesitter: Kurt Busch
EXPRESS NOTES:
Daytona Recap: It was an up and down Daytona experience for Denny Hamlin and the #11 FedEx team. Back as the defending Bud Shootout champion and hoping to carry over momentum from a third-place points finish in 2006, expectations were extremely high. After a 17th-place finish in the Bud Shootout, Hamlin qualified well and ran strong in the Duels on Thursday afternoon. Lining up ninth on Sunday for the Daytona 500, Hamlin climbed as high as second place and looked set to challenge for the win before fender damage forced him to pit twice and relegated him to the back of the field. Unable to avoid a late-race wreck that thinned the field, Hamlin and team were forced to settle for a 28th-place finish.
Hamlin at California Speedway: Hamlin’s experience at California Speedway dates back to the spring of 2005 and consists of two NEXTEL Cup and four Busch Series starts. In 2006 Hamlin twice qualified the #11 FedEx Chevrolet in the top-ten before posting finishes of 12th and sixth, respectively. The sixth place finish came in the midst of a seven-race top-ten streak leading up to the 2006 Chase for the NEXTEL Cup cutoff.
California Speedway:
Race Series Date Start Finish Laps
Sony HD 500 Nextel Cup Sept. 3, 2006 8 6 250/250
Ameriquest 300 Busch Sept. 2, 2006 8 15 150/150
Auto Club 500 Nextel Cup Feb. 26, 2006 5 12 250/250
Stater Brothers 300 Busch Feb. 25, 2006 17 10 150/150
Ameriquest 300 Busch Sept. 3, 2005 10 20 149/150
Stater Brothers 300 Busch Feb. 26, 2005 42 20 150/150
FedEx Express Fact: In two NEXTEL Cup starts at California Speedway, Hamlin has qualified in the top-ten (5th & 8th) and is averaging a ninth place finish.
Auto Club 500 Chassis – JGR 137: The FedEx team will unload chassis JGR 137 this weekend in Fontana. This car raced on three occasions last season, recording finishes of fourth (Texas), 12th (Michigan) and 14th (Chicagoland) before serving as a backup on four occasions. This car has become a favorite around the JGR shop. Chassis JGR 121, last season’s workhorse with wins at Pocono and several top-ten finishes, will serve as the backup.
Two New Members of the #11 FedEx Racing Team: The FedEx Racing team returns all but two members from the third-place team of 2006. While the entire “A” team stays intact for this season, the over-the-wall team will have two new faces on race day. Chad Edwards joined from the #18 JGR team and will handle front tire carrier duties. Dennis Terry made the off-season move to JGR from the #1 DEI entry of Martin Truex Jr.
QUOTES:
Hamlin on California Speedway: “California is a track where I know I will benefit from having been here before and can put some of that experience to work for me. This will be my third Cup start at California and if we can improve as much from the second to third race there as we did from the first to the second, we should be in pretty good shape. Nothing can make up for real race experience at a lot of these tracks and I think that having something to work from will help me more than anything else this season. I now have a good idea what worked for me, and I am much more comfortable telling Mike (Ford) and the crew what the car is doing, and what it needs to be better.”
I wish we would have had a better finish at Daytona to kick off the season but we’ll look at this race as where the season really starts for us. Last season we managed to put in a good run at California after finishing 30th at Daytona and it helped get our season pointed in the right direction. This coming weekend will give us a chance to see how our intermediate program stacks up against the competition and we know that with the way the schedule is set, being good at the 1.5-mile and 2.0-mile tracks can make or break your season as you work towards the Chase. We feel good about our equipment but we also know that everyone is bringing better cars so we can’t take anything for granted.”2007".
