One could hardly blame him. After Friday?s qualifying session Kyle Busch, a former Nextel Cup Champion, had just finished describing how difficult it is to get the correct race setup at a place like Pocono. “You run a qualifying setup and have one feel,” said Busch, who qualified second. “Then you jump into race trim, and it?s a whole different animal.”
So when pole-sitter Denny Hamlin, a rookie who had never even seen Pocono before this weekend, followed Busch?s comments by saying “I definitely felt like we had a much better car in race trim than what we did in qualifying,” it drew a sarcastic chuckle from the former champion.
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But Hamlin had the last laugh in Sunday?s Pocono 500. Starting from the pole, the Chesterfield, Va., native ran away from the field in the No.11 car. Hamlin led the race until lap 51, when a flat tire sent him to the back of the field.
It looked like Hamlin?s chances for victory were all but done at that point. Yet Hamlin, looking more like a seasoned veteran than a rookie, drove his way back through the field and into the lead, capturing the first Nextel Cup victory of his career. The driver he pulled away from to take the checkered flag? Kurt Busch.
So how does a rookie who has never seen a track like Pocono run so well there? Hamlin prepared for the race in an unusual way – with video games. “I have a racing game that simulates all of the tracks,” Hamlin said. “I pretty much got on that all week.”Hamlin also made the best of his limited practice time before the race. “I got out on pit road every time we did an adjustment ? I just sat there and waited for a veteran to come off turn three,” Hamlin said. He would then follow them to study what line they drove.
“All you can do is try to get behind somebody who has been around here, and learn from the best. That?s what I did,” he added.
Credit can also go to Mike Ford, the crew chief for the No.11 team. What Hamlin lacked in experience at Pocono, Ford more than made up for. Ford was the crew chief for Bill Elliott back in 2002 when Elliott won from the Pole at Pocono, a victory that, incidentally, also came over Busch.
Whether it is due to video games or an experienced crew chief, Hamlin is the top rookie in NASCAR this year, and has his sights set on the Chase for the Cup. In the past eight races, Hamlin has moved from 23rd in the standings all the way up to ninth.
He is optimistic about his chances, “You?ve just got to do your best not to have those bad days,” Hamlin said. “We?ve got to stay solid every week.”
Whether or not he makes the Chase, none of the veterans will be laughing anymore when Hamlin says he has a good car.
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