Denny Hamlin won the Budweiser Shootout in February. Credit: Autostock

Plate racing still a mystery to Hamlin

Despite Shootout victory at Daytona, rookie admits work to be done

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Add a balky plane to Denny Hamlin's restrictor-plate woes.

Hamlin arrived for opening practice for Sunday's UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega with only 30 minutes to spare, courtesy a mechanical problem that grounded his private plane in Richmond.

	Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers Hamlin on restrictor plates in the 2006 Nextel Cup Series Race Start Finish Daytona 500 17 30 Aaron's 499 30 22 Pepsi 400 6 17 Average 17.6 23.0 NOTE: Hamlin won the 2006 Budweiser Shootout

Hamlin had to charter another plane for the trip down to Talladega, where he finished 22nd in the spring.

"Sounds like an inverter or something burned up," said Hamlin. "Nothing too big. It is not much trouble, except for when I get the bill."

The bill will have plenty of zeros in it.

"I have to pay that, and that is going to suck pretty bad, probably."

For all of Hamlin's success this season, restrictor-plate racing has been a weak link in the No. 11 Chevrolet's chain. In three plate races this season, Hamlin hasn't finished better than 17th, and he isn't exactly sure why.

"I wish I knew," said Hamlin, who qualified 12th for Sunday's race. "I am probably going to put 65 percent in my hands, I probably need to be better on superspeedways, but I can run good in the Busch races. I just don't know. Our cars probably need to be a little bit better."

Hamlin, second in the championship standings, says that drafting isn't an issue. Rookies are traditionally considered pariahs at Talladega, but Hamlin hasn't had problems finding dance partners.

"That is the whole thing, it is not lack of help or anything like that, it is just tough when you get runs, what to do with them," said Hamlin. "And that is what I have not really figured out yet."

A successful run at Talladega, Hamlin says, is directly tied to the car's momentum, and he simply has not figured out how to perfect it.

"[The cars] just don't pull up, and I can't figure what I need to go to keep runs going," said Hamlin. "I kind of rely on Tony [Stewart] to help me do that."

Ironically, Hamlin has already technically won a restrictor-plate race -- he won the non-points Budweiser Shootout over Stewart to start the season -- but Hamlin says that exhibition racing was far different.

"You can argue that we won the Shootout and we started in the back of that race, so it's like, I don't know," said Hamlin. "Maybe you don't take the chances you would in an all-out brawl-type race. I just think I just have to learn more and have the cars run better."