Dennis Hamlin will be looking over his shoulder Saturday night as he races for one of the remaining berths in the Chase. Credit: Autostock

Hamlin confident team will finish Chase run

RICHMOND, Va. -- On paper, a Denny Hamlin hand injury is the biggest reason why he's in the fight for a Chase spot.

Hamlin badly cut his hand while horseplaying after a test session in Charlotte on May 3. Despite driving with a heavily-bandaged left hand that required 19 stitches, Hamlin finished second at Richmond only 72 hours later.

"I was most upset that I was going to have to come to Richmond injured," Hamlin said. "It was a big relief to come here and run so well."

When Hamlin hurt his hand, he was 19th in points. The runner-up run at Richmond moved him to 16th, and his win at Pocono in June got him into the top 10.

He hasn't been lower than 12th since, and a streak of seven consecutive top-10s have him on the verge of becoming the first rookie to secure a Chase spot.

"We have kind of woke up and found ourselves in this points battle," Hamlin said.

Hamlin has a nasty scar on the side of his hand, and it serves as a reminder of when his career made a sharp upward turn, but Hamlin said the injury was coincidental.

"It is amazing. People bring it [the hand injury] up all the time," Hamlin said. "Ever since then, we have been pretty much on fire and I think that it is more that I really learned about my racecars at that point in the season."

Race to the Chase Point Standings No. Driver Pts. Behind 1. M. Kenseth * 3,638 -- 2. J. Johnson * 3,629 -9 3. K. Harvick 3,296 -342 4. J. Gordon 3,251 -387 5. Ky. Busch 3,244 -394 6. D. Earnhardt Jr. 3,226 -412 7. D. Hamlin 3,225 -413 8. T. Stewart 3,194 -444 9. M. Martin 3,181 -457 10. J. Burton 3,179 -459 11. K. Kahne 3,149 -489 * -- Clinched berth in Chase FedEx PreviewNBC/TNT's Marty Snider previews the action at Richmond Fantasy ReportMarty and Danielle make their picks for Richmond Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Hamlin's only DNF came at Martinsville in the spring, where he qualified poorly before a wreck knocked him out of the race with 200 laps to go. The wreck dropped Hamlin to 23rd in the points, and Hamlin naively thought his Chase hopes were kaput.

"I said, 'That is it, our Chase hopes are over,' " Hamlin said. "I didn't realize we'd go on that roll like we have over the late spring early summer. Ever since then, we have been really solid."

Once Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing outfit knew they had a strong shot to make the Chase, they immediately starting taking steps to ensure their survival.

Case in point: Hamlin had a fast car at Watkins Glen in August, but crew chief Mike Ford knew he couldn't afford to chase victory with an aggressive pit strategy. Instead of finishing close to teammate Tony Stewart, Hamlin made an extra pit stop and finished 10th.

"At Watkins Glen we made sure we were the last ones to pit," Hamlin said. "Just making sure we are fine on fuel. [We are] just being real conservative, always taking four tires, never taking two and never taking none.

"If we do make the Chase, it will be wide open again. But to have this streak of top 10s like we are and still plan it fairly conservative, if we get into the Chase, we can be a contender."

Hamlin, a Virginia native, knows the state's short tracks like the back of his scarred left hand, and he knows that RIR's .750-mile bullring has a lot of pitfalls.

Now seventh in points, Hamlin knows his situation is precarious.

"Performance-wise, we can get in; we are fast enough," Hamlin said. "The only thing that can take us out of this is something happening, like pitting and a caution coming out, just getting off sequence.

"There are a lot of things that can get you a 20th- or a 30th-place finish, like a cut tire or anything."

Hamlin's team originally planned to take its second-best flat track car to Richmond, while the off-road crew prepared his favorite car to take to Loudon for the first race of the Chase.

Because of Kasey Kahne's win at California last week, those plans have changed: Joe Gibbs Racing opted to use the same car that Hamlin drove to the seocnd-place finish this spring.

Since he did gain a little bit on us, we feel like the best thing to do is take our best car," Hamlin said. "We can turn it around for Loudon. Our short track program has been really good."