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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
JENSEN: Denny The Dominator
Denny Hamlin came into this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup as one of the title favorites...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted October 26, 2009   Charlotte, NC
SPEED.com's Editor-in-Chief Tom Jensen. (Image: SPEED)
Denny Hamlin scored a dominating victory at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, where he led the most laps in winning the TUMS Fast Relief 500.

If he does the same thing again this Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway and the following week at Texas Motor Speedway, and if Jimmie Johnson finishes 43rd in both races, guess what? Hamlin will still be 30 points behind Johnson.

Ouch.

Hamlin came into this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup as one of the title favorites, and when he finished second to Mark Martin at New Hampshire, it appeared as if the Virginia native really might give the Hendrick armada a run for its money in this year’s Chase.

Instead, it now looks like Hamlin might be this year’s Carl Edwards — the guy who’s blindingly fast at most places, but falls victim to a couple of mistakes that knock him from title contention.

Last year, if you recall, Edwards made a spectacularly ill-timed attempt at bump-drafting at Talladega, which caused a big pile-up at the end of the race and dropped him from fourth to 29th in the final order. A week later at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, a phantom ignition problem left him 33rd. Edwards went on to win three of the final four races of the season, but by then the damage already had been done.

In Hamlin’s case, he muffed an attempted pass of Juan Pablo Montoya at California Speedway, which resulted in contact that sent him nose-first into the pit wall and a 37th-place finish. The next race, an engine failure at Lowe’s wound up with Hamlin 42nd. Sayonara, title hopes for Hamlin and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team.

But that should detract from the speed Hamlin has shown or the improvement the team has made in 2009.

“To me it sucks to not have an opportunity to win the championship this year,” said Hamlin. “But hopefully we're setting ourselves up to be one of the favorites hopefully next year.”

They certainly appear on track to do just that. And although the disappointments in the Chase have been considerable, they have taken the pressure off the team.

“It's kind of a fun power position to be racing around guys that are racing for a championship, and you have nothing to lose and all you're doing is going for a race win,” said Hamlin. “That part of it is kind of fun because you can push a little harder and maybe take a few more risks. That part of it is fun.”

It should be noted, too, that Hamlin was the only one of the three JGR drivers to make the Chase, and that his third victory of the season is a personal best for him, so it’s not as if the year has been wasted. Not at all, in fact.

“Even though our big goal is not obtainable, we're at least achieving small victories, and that's getting — performing better than what we ever have in the past and getting more wins this year than what we have in years past,” said Hamlin.

Then again, this time of year, with the championship on the line, it’s hard to get noticed for anything but points.

“Tomorrow … there will be 12 stories and there will be one about how much this guy lost to Jimmie, how much this guy lost to Jimmie, how much Jimmie gained — stretched his point lead will be about three or four stories, and then mine will be in that little column, ‘Denny Hamlin wins at Martinsville for the second time,’” Hamlin told reporters Sunday after his victory.

“Y'all do it. You know, write something different.”

And in the final four weeks of the season, we won’t be writing about Hamlin winning a championship, we might well be writing a lot more about him winning races.

“We don't have any weak spots anymore in our race team,” said Hamlin. “ … Every single week, whether it be a superspeedway, a short track or intermediate, we can win.”

Hamlin proved that much on Sunday. And he’ll have four more chances to prove it before the season draws to a close. It kind of makes you wonder just what he might be able to do before the year’s out.

No doubt, it’ll be interesting to watch, something this year’s Chase certainly needs.

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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