Monday, March 5, 2012

Could This Be the Year for Denny Hamlin? [NASCAR]

Denny Hamlin celebrates his victory at Pheonix

James Dennis Alan Hamlin—"Denny" to friends and fans of the NASCAR Sprint Cup driver—appeared to have come from nowhere in 2004, when ex-pro football coach Joe Gibbs signed him to a development contract with the coach's eponymous race team.

As many drivers do, the fairly brash young driver, then 24, brought the self-confidence he had earned on local short tracks to NASCAR. Such confidence, however, typically is short-lived when they reach the big leagues. With Hamlin, it never seemed to waver.

Well, it did eventually, but we'll get to that in a minute.

Denny Hamlin's pit crew at Pheonix

Gibbs helped place Hamlin in several competitive rides in the NASCAR Camping World Truck series and the NASCAR Nationwide series. He moved full time to Nationwide in 2005, and raced in both Sprint Cup and Nationwide in 2006. Despite the relatively short gestation period, Hamlin won two races and finished third in Cup points in 2006. His 2007 and 2008 seasons were good, but couldn't match the success of 2006. In 2009, though, Hamlin sprung back, with four wins and a fifth-place points finish. He was ready for 2010, and many picked him as the driver most likely to unseat Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.

Hamlin did not disappoint. He won an incredible eight races, and led Johnson in the points for much of the season, and went into the last race 15 points ahead of Johnson. But Johnson rallied, won another championship, and Hamlin ended up losing the championship by 39 points.

It seemed, then, that Hamlin was locked and loaded for 2011. But the season started badly and got worse. He won only one race. The chemistry between Hamlin and crew chief Mike Ford seemed to evaporate as the year progressed. Hamlin went from those eight wins and 14 top-five finishes in 2010 to one win and just five top-fives in 2011.

Finally, the confidence—the cockiness, maybe—that Hamlin had always worn on his shoulder was gone. He did some serious soul-searching during the off-season, consulted with a sports psychologist, and moved into 2012 hoping things would be better.

Gibbs decided Hamlin needed a new crew chief, so he hired Darian Grubb, a quiet, almost shy engineer who came up through the Hendrick Motorsports ranks, winning races with Jimmie Johnson, including the 2006 Daytona 500 while filling in for Johnson's oft-suspended crew chief, Chad Knaus.

In 2009, Grubb moved to the new Stewart-Haas Motorsports, working for team owner and driver Tony Stewart. Grubb was Stewart's crew chief for 2011, where after a miserable first half of the season, Stewart lucked into the Chase for the Championship and everything suddenly gelled. Stewart won his second Sprint Cup title. But long before that last race, Stewart had told Grubb he wouldn't be coming back for 2012, putting the championship-winning crew chief on the streets.

Not for long, though. Gibbs promptly hired Grubb and paired him with Denny Hamlin. Would they click?

It would seem so. In only their second race together, last Sunday's Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Hamlin and Grubb won by more than seven seconds over second-place finsher Kevin Harvick, whose engine was sputtering on the last lap as he was running out of gas. Had he had enough gas, could he have caught Hamlin?

Denny Hamlin leads at Pheonix

"I doubt it," Harvick said after the race. "He was just too good."

The slick, unpredictable track had plenty of crew chiefs guessing, a problem compounded by Goodyear tires that several drivers deemed inconsistent. But Grubb made all the right calls, and Hamlin drove like many—especially himself—believed he was capable of.

In the media center after the race, Hamlin, Grubb, and Joe Gibbs all stopped short of predicting a championship. "We still have a lot to learn about each other," Hamlin said of Grubb, meaning that when Hamlin says, "It's really loose," Grubb has to figure out how loose "really" is to Hamlin.

So far, so good. The redemption tour of Denny Hamlin and Darian Grubb, who are leading the Sprint Cup points, moves to Las Vegas this weekend. Don't bet against them.



from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com




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