Eleven cars exceeded the 164 mph barrier in Happy Hour
LONG POND, Pa. -- While the crew was pushing his No. 11 Toyota back to its stall in the Pocono garage area with less than 10 minutes remaining in Saturday's Happy Hour, Denny Hamlin had already removed his helmet. And by the time the car came to a stop, he was in the process of climbing out of the cockpit and heading directly to his hauler, his face impassive.
If Hamlin liked the final changes made to his car, he didn't show it. But the speed charts did, as his lap of 164.896 mph on sticker tires midway through the final practice session for Sunday's Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 was his fastest, and trailed only Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson over the final 60 minutes.
A total of 11 cars exceeded the 164 mph barrier in Happy Hour, the lone Ford being Kasey Kahne's No. 9. There were no incidents, and the only car with appreciable damage appeared to be the No. 16 Ford of Greg Biffle, which had a noticeable scrape down the right-rear quarter panel from a brush with the Turn 3 wall.
In addition to Burton, Johnson and Hamlin, Kevin Harvick was one of the top cars when it came to average speed overall. Others to watch on Sunday -- based on their practice times -- are Stewart-Haas teammates Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart, and Juan Montoya.
For Hamlin, Pocono has seemed to be an "all or nothing" track. In eight previous trips, he has three wins, including one in the most recent Sprint Cup visit. But he's also had mechanical issues, like at the beginning of this race last June.
"I've broke on the first lap here before," Hamlin said. "It's either really good or really bad for us here. When we do finish, we do finish well and it's just a track that we just always perform well at. I don't know exactly what it is. Mostly, it's got to be car because when you've got a good car at this race track, you can just make up a lot of time."
For the most part, Hamlin has been blessed with good equipment. However, it doesn't hurt that he has a tremendous amount of confidence as soon as he enters the tunnel.
"Some race tracks just suit the drivers' styles better than others and this one in particular just really lends itself to the way I particularly drive," Hamlin said. "It's tough to say what it is or where we're making up all of our time or where we're really good at, but it just seems like, all around, we've got everything on all eight cylinders here."
If there's one change that concerns Hamlin, it's a new patch of asphalt in Turn 3 that has altered his preferred line through that corner.
"I felt like I was much better than guys with the old car before they had that patch," Hamlin said. "Well, as soon as they put that new asphalt over there, everyone had to run up there. I had to run up there so I had to adapt."
But when it comes to determining a specific reason for his success, Hamlin is somewhat at a loss for words.
"It's really tough to pinpoint what exactly it is," Hamlin said. "Maybe I'm just conserving my car and that's the way I do it every week is conserve the car to the end and when we really need it. That's where we snuck up and got these guys in the win last year.
"We were 19th with about 20 to go and just flat drove to the front. It's because I saved my car all day. I really don't know the answer. If I did I would tell my teammates."
LONG POND, Pa. -- While the crew was pushing his No. 11 Toyota back to its stall in the Pocono garage area with less than 10 minutes remaining in Saturday's Happy Hour, Denny Hamlin had already removed his helmet. And by the time the car came to a stop, he was in the process of climbing out of the cockpit and heading directly to his hauler, his face impassive.
If Hamlin liked the final changes made to his car, he didn't show it. But the speed charts did, as his lap of 164.896 mph on sticker tires midway through the final practice session for Sunday's Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 was his fastest, and trailed only Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson over the final 60 minutes.
A total of 11 cars exceeded the 164 mph barrier in Happy Hour, the lone Ford being Kasey Kahne's No. 9. There were no incidents, and the only car with appreciable damage appeared to be the No. 16 Ford of Greg Biffle, which had a noticeable scrape down the right-rear quarter panel from a brush with the Turn 3 wall.
In addition to Burton, Johnson and Hamlin, Kevin Harvick was one of the top cars when it came to average speed overall. Others to watch on Sunday -- based on their practice times -- are Stewart-Haas teammates Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart, and Juan Montoya.
For Hamlin, Pocono has seemed to be an "all or nothing" track. In eight previous trips, he has three wins, including one in the most recent Sprint Cup visit. But he's also had mechanical issues, like at the beginning of this race last June.
"I've broke on the first lap here before," Hamlin said. "It's either really good or really bad for us here. When we do finish, we do finish well and it's just a track that we just always perform well at. I don't know exactly what it is. Mostly, it's got to be car because when you've got a good car at this race track, you can just make up a lot of time."
For the most part, Hamlin has been blessed with good equipment. However, it doesn't hurt that he has a tremendous amount of confidence as soon as he enters the tunnel.
"Some race tracks just suit the drivers' styles better than others and this one in particular just really lends itself to the way I particularly drive," Hamlin said. "It's tough to say what it is or where we're making up all of our time or where we're really good at, but it just seems like, all around, we've got everything on all eight cylinders here."
If there's one change that concerns Hamlin, it's a new patch of asphalt in Turn 3 that has altered his preferred line through that corner.
"I felt like I was much better than guys with the old car before they had that patch," Hamlin said. "Well, as soon as they put that new asphalt over there, everyone had to run up there. I had to run up there so I had to adapt."
But when it comes to determining a specific reason for his success, Hamlin is somewhat at a loss for words.
"It's really tough to pinpoint what exactly it is," Hamlin said. "Maybe I'm just conserving my car and that's the way I do it every week is conserve the car to the end and when we really need it. That's where we snuck up and got these guys in the win last year.
"We were 19th with about 20 to go and just flat drove to the front. It's because I saved my car all day. I really don't know the answer. If I did I would tell my teammates."
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