HAMLIN SEEKING REDEMPTION, FIRST WIN OF 2017 AT SONOMA
SONOMA, CALIF. Denny Hamlin won the most recent road course race at Watkins Glen International last August. He would have captured the one before that had Tony Stewart not exploited Hamlin’s mistake on the final turn to keep him from the trophy at Sonoma Raceway.
So it is with expectation — and a good measure of hope — that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver undertakes the undulating 1.99- mile, 10- turn course Sunday.
Last season, Hamlin was so pleasantly surprised with a runner- up finish that he says he wasn’t angry about Stewart’s move to secure his final win before the three- time series champion retired from the Cup racing at the end of last season.
“We went into that day thinking, ‘ Let’s have a top- seven day’ ” Hamlin told USA TODAY Sports of the 2016 race at Sonoma. “We weren’t all that strong at the very beginning of the race. We steadily got a little bit better. As disappointed as I was about the last corner, I really wasn’t that disappointed because we had already exceeded expectations for that day.
“I hated being that close and having the opportunity and missing out on it, but really, Tony made a pretty big mistake with two laps left that really allowed me to get close enough to do anything with him. He made a mistake, I made a mistake, it all evened out in the end.”
Hamlin doesn’t have the luxury of peace of mind anymore.
Last year, he had already secured a postseason spot by winning the Daytona 500 in the season opener, and JGR and partner Furniture Row Racing were in the process of winning half of the 26 regular- season races.
This year, though Furniture Row’s Martin Truex Jr. is second in points after capturing two races, JGR is collectively winless, and Hamlin is ninth in the driver standings.
Eleven races are left until the playoffs, and nine spots have been grabbed by different race- winners. Sixteen drivers qualify for the playoffs, and numerous historical winners, including JGR teammates Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth and Stewart- Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, have yet to pick up a win.
Hamlin attributed some of JGR’s plight to circumstances, and Busch has been particularly beset by turnabout on multiple occasions, but mostly, he said, “We’ve just lacked a little speed as an organization.”
That’s improving, Hamlin said. Busch, Kenseth and Hamlin finishing in the top five at Charlotte in May provided encouragement.
“From where we were at Richmond ( seven races ago), I thought maybe we’re three- tenths behind the field and now we’re maybe one- tenth behind the field,” said Hamlin, who led the first practice Friday and qualified 14th on Saturday. “The last three mile- and- a- halfs we’ve been really strong.
“I think we’re getting better, and we’re getting into the point of the year where I start getting into the swing of things as well.” That makes Sonoma crucial. “It’s definitely a place I look forward to coming on the schedule,” he said. “Motor doesn’t mean as much, dynamics doesn’t mean as much, so I think we can come here on a level playing field and compete, like a short track really, with some shifting.”
But still, Sonoma could reveal another unexpected winner, as could Daytona International Speedway next week. The implications are setting in. “We have to somewhat worry about if we somehow don’t get a win, we’ve got to be as high up in the points as possible,” Hamlin said. “There’s a feasible chance that seventh, eighth in points doesn’t make the ( playoffs). That would be a tough pill to swallow.”
That would make the last turn extremely interesting if Hamlin is in a similar situation as last summer.