Denny Hamlin showed once again that his roller coaster chase ride was nothing more than bad luck and a couple of stumbles in the decision making process.
During the late stages of the Ford 400, the sun was setting over the Homestead Miami Speedway, and Denny Hamlin’s car was finally settling in.
Hamlin’s season ending weekend started off tough. After unloading on Friday, the No. 11 FedEx Toyota could only muster a 26th fastest time in first practice.
Working hard on making changes and finding some speed, Hamlin would move up to second on the speed chart in the next practice session.
Qualifying late Friday did not go Hamlin’s way. Loosing something in the transition, Hamlin could only muster a 38th starting position.
What ever was found in the second practice session was still missing in happy hour on Saturday. Being the last race of the season and not having much to gain, most teams would have thrown in the towel and gone through the motions.
Joe Gibb’s teams are not most teams. Fighting his way through the field, it took Hamlin two thirds of the race to finally see light at the beginning of the line.
Taking the lead on lap 223 from teammate Kyle Busch, Hamlin would stretch his lead to 3.1 seconds and take the final checkered flag of the 2009 campaign.
This year’s chase started strong for Denny Hamlin, but soon turned south and his championship hopes faded into the abyss.
To avoid ground hog day in the 2010 Chase, and with season opening Daytona just under three months away, Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing team must learn from their mistakes of this season and expound on their success’.
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