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Sprint Cup
CUP: Hamlin’s Title Run All But Over
An electrical glitch left Denny Hamlin 33rd at Martinsville…
Crew members work on the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota of Denny Hamlin in the garage area during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
After a series of frustrating miscues earlier in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Martinsville Speedway was where Denny Hamlin’s drive for his first NASCAR Sprint Cup championship was supposed to get back in gear.
Instead, it’s where it ended.
Hamlin had an ulcer-inducing afternoon in the Tums Fast Relief 500, suffering not one but two pit-road speeding penalties that dropped him deep in the field each time. Then he rallied back to the lead at his favorite track, only to have a bolt break on the master switch in the electronic control unit of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on Lap 371.
That caused his car to lose power and Hamlin was forced to the garage for a lengthy series of repairs.
Instead of winning his fifth Martinsville race and turning the heat up on points leaders Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski, the electronic gremlins left Hamlin 33rd, the first time since 2006 he has finished worse than 12th here.
“One of these days, it’s going to be our time,” said Hamlin, who took the title fight to the last race of the season two years ago before losing to Johnson. “It’s just not going to be right now.”
So now, with three races left on the season, Hamlin is 49 points behind Johnson and all the way back to fifth in points. That’s more than one full race in terms of points and realistically far too large a margin to overcome in just three races. His title hopes are well and truly over with for this year.
“I had a great car,” Hamlin said. “I just — you know, when these things happen you just have to suck it up and move on. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
The worst part of it all was that Hamlin’s car clearly was good enough to win.
Hamlin said there may have been a misunderstanding with crew chief Darian Grubb about the pit-road timing lines. And given that the two pit-road speeding penalties were Hamlin’s first of the year, that certainly seems plausible.
“I was doing what the crew chief said,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know if it’s the right thing as far as NASCAR’s concerned, but they assured me there was no way to speed on entry with the timing lines. I think there was a little bit of an underestimation of how quick these cars can launch when you do take off. I think there was something more to that than what we thought.”
Hamlin got sent to the tail end of the longest line for speeding entering pit road on Lap 47, dropping him to 34th in the order.
Despite the first penalty, Hamlin was able to carve through the field and take the lead on Lap 165, only to get another penalty for being too fast entering on Lap 200. Once again, Hamlin quickly dispatched the whole field, taking the lead on Lap 350.
But then his ignition began to short out and that was it.
“We put on a clinic when it came to get back to the front,” said Hamlin. “… It’s just a frustrating day.”
No question about it, it was a bitter pill to swallow for Hamlin.
“It ended in disappointment, but we overcame the pit road penalties, things like that,” he said. “ … Nothing we couldn’t overcome. We still drove our tails right back up to the front twice and passed the 48 car (Johnson) about three, four times. It just sucks that it’s got to end this way, but we’ve just got to suck it up and move on.”
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
Instead, it’s where it ended.
Hamlin had an ulcer-inducing afternoon in the Tums Fast Relief 500, suffering not one but two pit-road speeding penalties that dropped him deep in the field each time. Then he rallied back to the lead at his favorite track, only to have a bolt break on the master switch in the electronic control unit of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on Lap 371.
That caused his car to lose power and Hamlin was forced to the garage for a lengthy series of repairs.
Instead of winning his fifth Martinsville race and turning the heat up on points leaders Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski, the electronic gremlins left Hamlin 33rd, the first time since 2006 he has finished worse than 12th here.
“One of these days, it’s going to be our time,” said Hamlin, who took the title fight to the last race of the season two years ago before losing to Johnson. “It’s just not going to be right now.”
So now, with three races left on the season, Hamlin is 49 points behind Johnson and all the way back to fifth in points. That’s more than one full race in terms of points and realistically far too large a margin to overcome in just three races. His title hopes are well and truly over with for this year.
“I had a great car,” Hamlin said. “I just — you know, when these things happen you just have to suck it up and move on. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
The worst part of it all was that Hamlin’s car clearly was good enough to win.
Hamlin said there may have been a misunderstanding with crew chief Darian Grubb about the pit-road timing lines. And given that the two pit-road speeding penalties were Hamlin’s first of the year, that certainly seems plausible.
“I was doing what the crew chief said,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know if it’s the right thing as far as NASCAR’s concerned, but they assured me there was no way to speed on entry with the timing lines. I think there was a little bit of an underestimation of how quick these cars can launch when you do take off. I think there was something more to that than what we thought.”
Hamlin got sent to the tail end of the longest line for speeding entering pit road on Lap 47, dropping him to 34th in the order.
Despite the first penalty, Hamlin was able to carve through the field and take the lead on Lap 165, only to get another penalty for being too fast entering on Lap 200. Once again, Hamlin quickly dispatched the whole field, taking the lead on Lap 350.
But then his ignition began to short out and that was it.
“We put on a clinic when it came to get back to the front,” said Hamlin. “… It’s just a frustrating day.”
No question about it, it was a bitter pill to swallow for Hamlin.
“It ended in disappointment, but we overcame the pit road penalties, things like that,” he said. “ … Nothing we couldn’t overcome. We still drove our tails right back up to the front twice and passed the 48 car (Johnson) about three, four times. It just sucks that it’s got to end this way, but we’ve just got to suck it up and move on.”
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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