San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
HAMLIN HOPING FOR A BREAKTHROUGH
Denny Hamlin would love to think that a visit to his home track will produce a finish that finally gets his season heading in the right direction.
The problem for Hamlin, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates and seemingly all the drivers in Toyotas is they are having a difficult time figuring out NASCAR’S Next Gen car, making their extensive success at Richmond Raceway nearly meaningless for today’s race.
Hamlin stands 22nd in points after six races and has failed to finish three races. With trying the figure out the new car, every week is like starting over.
“We are decent, but we are not where we have been for the last three years. We are trying to find that point where we are good, and we can build off of that,” he said.
Teammate Martin Truex Jr., who won on the 0.75-mile, D-shaped oval last fall, feels coming to Richmond means arriving with expectations but without much reason for any because everything is different with the new car.
“Whatever you think you knew and the way you thought about these tracks before and the way you approach these things — just forget about it, because this is a whole new ballgame with this car and everything,” he said. “Forget everything you knew in the past and focus on what it takes to make this thing go, which we are still trying to figure out.”
Truex’s team has figured out enough to finish in the top 10 three times in the first six races, good for seventh in the point standings. Hamlin, who had 25 top-10 runs in 36 races last year, has yet to record any.
But, he said, it’s not time to panic.
“I think you can catapult up the standings really, really quickly,” he said. “If you have a couple solid weeks where we don’t get crashed or cause a crash, those things add up. We’re not happy with where our speed is at, for sure, but certainly we are not a 22ndplace team. Am I worried about making the playoffs, if that is what you are asking? No.”
Hat trick: Blaney on pole
Ryan Blaney is on a roll running for poles. The Team Penske driver turned a lap of 119.782 mph at Richmond Raceway on Saturday to earn his third consecutive top starting spot in NASCAR’S top series. It’s the ninth pole for Blaney in 241 career starts, and his third this season.
William Byron will start on the outside of the front row, with Kyle Busch and Chase Briscoe in the second row, and Erik Jones and Truex Jr. next.
Blaney is second in the driver standings behind Chase Elliott, and Blaney’s Team Penske teammate Joey Logano is third.
“Qualifying on the pole here is one thing. Racing here is a completely other thing,” Blaney said, noting that he has struggled on the 0.75-mile oval.
Gibbs nudges Nemechek
Ty Gibbs bumped John Hunter Nemechek from the lead in a furious last-lap battle at Richmond Raceway and won for the third time this season in NASCAR’S Xfinity Series.
Gibbs and Nemechek, teammates with Joe Gibbs Racing, got physical over the final several laps, trading the lead and making contact several times until Gibbs nudged Nemechek’s Toyota in turn three of the last lap. He won by just 0.116 seconds.
“I definitely deserve one back,” Gibbs said in victory lane of the bump. “We were racing for wins and they’re hard to come by. Just got in there deep and had to bump him out of the way up the track. We’re short-track racing.”
Nemechek, who is not racing fulltime in the series and thus ineligible for the championship, was less-thanamused with the way the finish unfolded.
“Him and I will settle it Monday. I don’t want to say too much and get myself in trouble, but I just got drove through. He didn’t even try to make the corner there, so racers never forget,” Nemechek said after finishing second.