CUP: Hamlin Struggles At Dover

Sprint Cup

CUP: Hamlin Struggles At Dover

Dover International Speedway is one of Denny Hamlin’s least favorite tracks...

Tom Jensen | Posted September 25, 2009 Dover, DE

Denny Hamlin (Left) speaks with crew chief Mike Ford (Right) in the garage area at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 where Hamlin finished second last week. (Photo: Getty Images)

Weeks ago, Denny Hamlin said the key to his championship hopes would be to get off to a strong start in the first three races of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. And the one track he specifically said he was worried about was Dover International Speedway.

Hamlin broke from the gate strong in the Chase last Sunday, finishing second to Mark Martin in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. That left him tied with Jimmie Johnson in points, the two drivers a mere 35 markers back of leader Martin.

Unfortunately for Hamlin, it appears he may have had cause to worry about Dover after all. The Virginia native was just 25th fastest in the opening round of practice for the AAA 400 at the “Monster Mile” Friday. And afterwards, he was frustrated and angry.

“I’ll be glad when Monday comes,” Hamlin said after the 90-minute Friday morning practice session. “It seems to be a little bit of a struggle at this race track to find a little speed, and today was no exception. We either run really good here or we finish really bad. I’m sure we’ll get it figured out and be a little bit closer tomorrow, but today, it was a struggle really on both sides — Nationwide and Cup.”

Hamlin saved most of his venom for Goodyear, complaining bitterly about the tires being used at the one-mile concrete oval.

“There was a tire test here and from what I hear, they (Goodyear) didn’t bring back the tire that everyone liked again,” said Hamlin. “Same as Atlanta. They keep increasing the stagger in the tires and it just keeps making guys loose in and loose off. You’ll see it during the race. You’re going to see guys sliding all over the place, just like you were at Atlanta. I don’t know. They won’t listen to us drivers, so I don’t know why we even tire test these race tracks anymore.”

Asked if he saw value in tire testing, Hamlin reckoned he didn’t.

“No, I don’t think there’s any benefit,” said Hamlin. “We’ve made improvements at a lot of race tracks with our tire and that’s been good. Now, to say it’s a benefit to tire test I think is completely false, because nine times out of 10, they bring back a tire that nobody even tested on. They’ll take a lot of data from this tire or they’ll piece together this tire and that tire and make a tire that no one has run on and ends up being terrible. I think it’s just crap, really.”

Yet despite his obvious anger and frustration, Hamlin said he hoped to muster a strong finish on Sunday.

“A top-five would be acceptable,” said Hamlin. “We don’t expect to say, ‘Hey, a top-10 will do.’ I think we need to run a little bit better than that. I’m sure we’ll figure it out. Tomorrow we’re going to get it figured out and we’ll be up there where we belong. Right now, it’s just a little bit of a headache and a bad day. That’s all.”

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of ?Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,? and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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