| By Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM
June 15, 2006
03:34 PM EDT (19:34 GMT)
One year ago, Denny Hamlin was seventh in the Busch Series standings with no top-fives and just four top-10s in the series' first 15 races. What a difference a year makes.  | | |
| Inside the Numbers |
Denny Hamlin's past five
Nextel Cup Series starts |
| Track |
Start |
Finish |
Rank |
| Richmond |
7 |
2 |
16 |
| Darlington |
5 |
10 |
13 |
| Charlotte |
8 |
9 |
12 |
| Dover |
7 |
11 |
11 |
| Pocono |
1 |
1 |
9 |
|
|
|
Hamlin celebrated his first Nextel Cup Series win last weekend at Pocono, he's the star of a series of funny commercials and Sunday, he'll be the headset guest on FOX's pre-race festivites from Michigan (1 p.m. ET, FOX). "I have been a fan of this sport for so long and I have the utmost respect for the drivers who have been winning races for years because it's a really hard thing to do," Hamlin said. "I consider myself lucky to add my name to that list of guys that have done it." It's actually been quite a month for Hamlin and his No. 11 bunch. In the past five races, Hamlin's average start is 6.6 while his average finish is 5.6. He's gained 10 spots in the Nextel Cup Series standings and he heads to Michigan ninth in points, 463 behind leader Jimmie Johnson. "I have been talking a lot about momentum lately and that is exactly what we have going right now," Hamlin said. "Things are clicking, we are putting great cars on the track and we are not making mistakes that keep us from finishing races. There are so many good cars out there each and every weekend and that means there is no room for error. You have to be really good and really consistent. "I am fortunate to have all these guys on the FedEx team working with me because I don't think there is anyone better." Also scheduled for Sunday's pre-race: • Adam Sandler will be a guest. He's in town to be the grand marshal of Sunday's event.
• To help promote Sandler's new movie, Click, D.W. will take a remote control to the 2006 season.
• Chris Myers will go 10 Laps with Greg Biffle. Hamlin, Brian Vickers and Busch Series rookie Aric Arimola are among the scheduled guests for this week's live edition of Trackside from Michigan. If you're heading there, the SPEED Stage will be outside the track, behind the main grandstand in the Fan Plaza. A reminder that Sunday night, SPEED is airing a special edition of Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain entitled Economaki -- Eyewitness to American Racing History. The one-hour special will be a wide-ranging conversation with Chris Economaki, a motorsports journalist for more than 70 years. Economaki, 85, the face and voice of American motor sports for more than 33 years with ABC and CBS, still writes a weekly notebook column for NSSN. The ratings news was not good for FOX again last week at Pocono. Coverage of the Pocono 500 earned a 4.6 overnight rating and an 11 market share, down nearly 10 percent from the 5.1/12 overnight that last year's race earned. The Dover numbers weren't much better. The race earned a 3.7 rating, down from 4.9 a year ago. |  | E-MAIL | |
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"Ask the Producer" will return next week leading up to Sonoma. Send your questions by clicking the link to the right. On to this weekend's busy schedule: Nextel Cup Series: 3M Performance 400 Track: Michigan International Speedway
• 2-mile oval
• 18-degree banking in corners
• 12-degree banking on frontstretch
• 5-degree banking in backstretch
• Length of frontstretch: 3,600 feet
• Length of backstretch: 2,242 feet Race length: 200 laps/400 miles TV schedule: (All times ET)
• NASCAR Live: 2 p.m. Fri.., SPEED
• Bud Pole Qualifying: 3 p.m. Fri. SPEED
• Trackside: 7 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• Final Practice: 6:30 p.m. Sat. (tape), FX
• NASCAR Raceday: 11 a.m. Sun., SPEED
• Pre-race: 1 p.m. Sun., FOX
• Race: 1:40 p.m. Sun., FOX One year ago, Greg Biffle outdueled Tony Stewart to win. Stewart led 97 laps, but lost on pit strategy. The most recent checkered flag went to Denny Hamlin, who battled from the front to the back to the front to grab his first points-paying Cup win at Pocono. Keep an eye on Bill Lester. Lester will attempt to make his second Cup start of the season Sunday. At Atlanta in March, Lester became the first African-American driver in 20 years to make a start in NASCAR's top series. He qualified 19th and finished 38th Busch Series: Meijer 300 Track: Kentucky Speedway
• 1.5-mile oval
• 14-degree banking in turns
• 8-degree banking on straights
• Length of frontstretch: 1,600 feet
• Length of backstretch: 1,600 feet Race length: 200 laps/300 miles TV schedule: (All times ET) • Busch Pole Qualifying: 5:30 p.m. Sat.(tape), SPEED
• Race: 7:30 p.m. Sat., FX One year ago, Carl Edwards got his third Busch Series win of 2005, using a dominant car to grab the checkers at Kentucky. The most recent checkered flag went to Edwards, who led 70 of the final 85 laps and beat defending winner Clint Bowyer to the line by nearly a second at Nashville. Keep an eye on Kenny Wallace. Over the last six races, Wallace has an average finish of 15.3. His fifth-place start and 11th-place finish last week at Nashville Speedway were his best since the April race at that same track where he started and finished eighth. He's now 10th in the points heading to Kentucky. Craftsman Truck Series: Con-way Freight 200 Track: Michigan International Speedway
• 2-mile oval
• 18-degree banking in corners
• 12-degree banking on frontstretch
• 5-degree banking in backstretch
• Length of frontstretch: 3,600 feet
• Length of backstretch: 2,242 feet Race length: 100 laps/200 miles TV schedule (All times ET) • Race: 3 p.m. Sat., SPEED One year ago, Dennis Setzer raced to his first Craftsman Truck Series victory of the season, winning under caution after Ted Musgrave blew an engine while running second with less than two laps to go. The most recent checkered flag went to Todd Bodine, who passed Mike Skinner on the final lap to win Friday night's Sam's Town 400 at Texas Motor Speedway, his third win of the season. Keep an eye on David Starr. He's set to make his 150th NCTS start this weekend. That would make him only the 10th driver in series history to reach that plateau. | 
