Notes: Top-five can't pull Hamlin from 12th in Chase

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Around this time last year, Denny Hamlin, a Cup rookie at the time, was preparing his speech for the NASCAR awards banquet in New York.

Sunday night, however, he was preparing for a Late Model race because finishing outside the top 10 in points doesn't get you a seat at the show.

"Well, I hadn't had any success the last few weeks," Hamlin said. "So I figured I'd go back to a Late Model to see if I could win a race ... Since I got the next week off, I ain't got to go to the banquet anyway, I guess, I'll go racing."

Hamlin said his second season was strong up until the Chase began. Most of the season, he stayed in the top five in points.

Racing incidents gradually dropped Hamlin in the standings when it mattered most.

"Things didn't work out in our favor when it came down to the last 10," he said. "It was nothing to do with performance. On the racetrack, things were really good. It just seemed like with a few laps to go with every race, we found ourselves in trouble."

Hamlin, 580 points behind Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, finished the season in 12th place. Overall, he garnered one pole, one win, 12 top-fives and 18 top-10s.

Sunday he was racing to stay in the top 10 and lead three times for 19 laps, but couldn't hold off race winner Matt Kenseth.

The No. 11 Chevy caught and passed Kenseth on Lap 159, but the No. 17 Ford made a run and passed Hamlin on Lap 177 to retake the lead.

Hamlin said he is looking forward to next season when his team at Joe Gibbs Racing shifts to Toyotas in the Cup Series.

Points no problem
Dave Blaney finished 12th in Sunday's season finale and secured a position within the top 35 in the Cup Series owner points.

After battling for the position most of the season, the Toyota driver will rest easy heading into the offseason. His No. 22 is locked into the first five races of next season per the NASCAR rule book.

"It's a different world to be in 35th versus 36th," he said. "We had to get in there and our whole team did a great job to get us there. We get a head start on those first five races and we just have to do better in the first five."

The problem for Blaney happened early in the season with three DNFs, which put the team behind.

Most of Sunday's race, Blaney ran in the top 15 and at one point was running in fourth.

"I slipped a little at the end and gave up a couple positions, but overall it was a good night for us," he said. "The track changed quite a bit, but it was just a slippery [Sunday night] as it was during the day. I ran the high line most of the night, but there were times that I just had to follow the car to whatever line it wanted to race and where it was fastest." (Continued)