NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
  • Peg It on GarageMonkey
CUP: Hamlin ‘Calls’ His Win. Maybe.
Denny Hamlin had one of the season’s most dominant runs in reasserting Chase strength…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted September 23, 2012   Loudon, NH
Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series SYLVANIA 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
So, was it a called shot, or wasn’t it?

That was about the only question left lingering Sunday in the aftermath of Denny Hamlin’s steamrolling victory in the Sylvania 300, a win that returned him to the heat of the battle for the Sprint Cup championship.

Hamlin predicted the Loudon victory to his Twitter followers after the Chase opened last week with a sour result for the 11 team. Later in the week, however, he backed away from the strength of that prediction after it was spread across the mainstream media, saying he didn’t mean to guarantee a victory.

Hamlin’s Sunday performance was sensational, however, as he led 193 of the 300 laps and had no serious challengers as he rolled to his fifth win of the year.

In the aftermath of the victory, he climbed from his car near the start-finish line, made a baseball-type swing and pointed into the distance, copying the famous home-run call by baseball Hall of Famer Babe Ruth in 1932.

Later, he was asked about the prediction that sort of disappeared and sort of reappeared.

“I just wanted to clarify that there are no guarantees,” Hamlin said of his ‘double-speak’ on the topic during the week. “I've had the fastest car in my career and not won [probably] 20 times, some crazy amount, and not won because of the variables that I talked about on Friday.

“So I just wanted it to be clear that, all right, I'm not guaranteeing anything, but barring any of those circumstances happening, we were going to win. I had faith that we were going to win. It was more for my fan base that was probably down on my performance at Chicago. … I was going to assure them that we were going to have a rebound week.”

Whatever the circumstances, Hamlin pounded the competition Sunday. No one else was even on the same page – maybe not even in the same book.

“Darian (crew chief Darian Grubb) obviously gave me a lightning fast car today, and, for me, my job was relatively easy,” Hamlin said. “Just make sure that I didn't make any enemies on the way to the front.”

Team owner Joe Gibbs said Hamlin kept a solid foundation under the team by offering support to team members after a fueling mistake led to the bad finish at Chicagoland last Sunday and another crew error resulted in a poor qualifying effort here Friday.

“For two weeks in a row, we had two things happen on our race team …, and I think the way Denny reacted both times was just absolutely great,” Gibbs said. “And I think that meant a lot to his team. And I think the way you handle things like that, being the guy that's wheeling the car, I think is a big deal.

“I really appreciate the way he handles everything. Darian just does a great job of that, too. It would be easy for the guy in charge to go off on somebody, but you know, really, many times, that can make the difference down the road. Because those guys, those guys are going to remember that, the way they were treated, and I think they would die for them both. So I really appreciate that.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
mike.hembree's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mike Hembree

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2013

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.