November 8, 2010
By Allen Madding
Going into Phoenix this past weekend, all eyes were on NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase for the Cup contenders Denny Hamlin and four-time series champion Jimmie Johnson.
Hamlin came into the weekend with a 33 point lead over Johnson. Odds were on Johnson to have a stellar performance in the Kobalt Tools 500 with four previous wins at Phoenix International Raceway in the last six races there. But at the same time, expectations were that Hamlin would be hot on his heels while never having won at Phoenix, Hamlin has scored several top five finishes at the track.
When Hamlin took an early lead and began to establish himself as the car to beat for the day, all eyes were tracking Johnson’s performance which seemed lack-luster at best for the better part of the day. Nothing amazing came out of pit stops after the much discussed pit crew swap between Johnson’s No. 48 Lowe’s Home Improvement team and Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Dupont team. Pit stops went well for the No. 48 team but at no point did they take the lead away from Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx team coming out of the pits.
Hamlin scored five bonus points early for leading a single lap and then another five bonus points for leading the most laps. But the race took a shift of focus in the last 80 laps when the crew chiefs began calculating their fuel mileage and how many laps were left in the event. Hamlin’s team quickly determined they had to pit for 15 laps worth of fuel to make it to the checkered flag. Johnson’s team elected to make the gamble and have their driver conserve fuel for the last 80 laps. Hamlin’s crew called him in for a splash of gas and right side tires on lap 298 losing a lap to the leader, Carl Edwards who also elected to gamble on the mileage. Hamlin a bit faster with the fresh right side rubber clambered back to catch Edwards and to get back on the tail-end of the lead lap.
Meantime, Johnson was shutting the ignition off on his car going into the turns instead of using the brakes, then he would slide the clutch coming out of the turn to restart the engine and drive down the straightaway about three-quarter power saving as much fuel as possible.
When the checkered flag waved, Carl Edwards squeaked out a win on a tank full of fumes, Jimmie Johnson finished fifth, the highest he ran all day, and Hamlin finished 12th.
Hamlin would leave Phoenix with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase for the Cup points lead but only by 15 points over Johnson and 46 points over Kevin Harvick.
Hamlin won at Homestead to close the 2009 Cup season while Johnson celebrated his fourth Sprint Cup championship. Johnson has never won at Homestead seemingly tipping the scales in favor of Hamlin and his No. 11 FedEx Toyota team. But who would have thought he would have left Phoenix this week without the win? And who would have thought at the halfway point in the Kobalt Tools 500 that he would leave Phoenix with a smaller points margin over Johnson?
The Chase for the Cup goes to Homestead-Miami for the final race of the season and the championship is still up for grabs.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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