NASCAR Cup Series

Hamlin needs to back up winning run

Published Jun. 22, 2011 4:37 p.m. ET

Jeff Hammond

A lot of people are asking me this week whether Denny Hamlin, who finally got to Victory Lane for the first time this year last weekend, has turned his season around.

That win at Michigan International Speedway was a great victory that the team needed and, probably more important, Hamlin needed. Now, if you compare Hamlin this year to what he did last year, well, you can’t say yet that he has turned his NASCAR Sprint Cup season around.

Once he starts posting multiple wins, then, to me, that is proof the No. 11 team turned the corner.

Hamlin and the team had some opportunities earlier this year that, unfortunately, slipped through their fingers. Then they floundered around for a few races. Lately, however, we have seen them become more consistent, and that is always the first step in rebuilding a season.

Drivers such as Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Hamlin have set the standard so high in past years that it is hard to say they are having a successful season. We are kind of leaving Edwards alone because he is leading the points, but how many wins does Edwards have this year? How many wins does Johnson have this year? After having the most wins last year, Hamlin now has just gotten his first win of the 2011 season.

So I don’t think Edwards, Johnson or Hamlin will tell you they are where they want to be at this point in the season. Once these guys can get a second win under their belts, then, I believe, they will feel they are making progress.

Historically, Hamlin is a top-15 driver at Infineon Raceway, where we race this weekend. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him battling for the win this Sunday and notching that second win of the year. I did the Victory Lane show on SPEED last weekend and, as the winner of the race, Hamlin was on the show. I asked him that very question about Sonoma.

He had a dismal finish last year at Sonoma, which was very uncharacteristic of him. He said collectively, as a team, that they hadn’t put enough emphasis and priority on road racing since there isn’t a race like that in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Hamlin explained that this year Joe Gibbs Racing changed its philosophy and has put a lot into the two road-course races on our schedule.

For the first time since 2008, Joe Gibbs Racing has built new road-course cars. So, with Hamlin coming off the momentum of the win in Michigan, and knowing they have brand-new cars for Sonoma, I expect Hamlin and his team to be a factor. He is good on the road courses. New race cars always tend to produce much better results, assuming you get the bugs and kinks worked out of them.

Now, on the heels of Sunday’s win come the penalties all three Joe Gibbs Racing teams suffered as NASCAR handed down penalties for JGR's failure to submit the cars' oil pans for prior NASCAR approval.

All three crew chiefs — Mike Ford (No. 11 car), Dave Rogers (No. 18 car of Kyle Busch) and Greg Zipadelli (No. 20 car of Joey Logano) — were fined $50,000 each and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31. On top of that, all three car chiefs — Chris Gillin (No. 11), Wesley Sherrill (No. 18) and Jason Shapiro (No. 20) — and also Joe Gibbs Racing senior vice president of racing operations Jimmy Makar were placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31.

Even going back to last year, there have been a lot of situations where Joe Gibbs drivers have been in the media for not the best of reasons. It also, unfortunately, has continued this year. You have to assume upper management over there realizes they are making it really easy for their detractors to pick on them.

You have to appreciate the irony of this, though. Last fall after Clint Bowyer was penalized following winning a race in the Chase, Hamlin took a verbal shot in the media about Richard Childress Racing. You have to wonder now how Joe Gibbs Racing likes being in the spotlight and people taking their own shots, asking if all JGR knows how to do is cheat?