Hamlin looking to finally seal the deal at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Denny Hamlin is still looking for that elusive first win at Bristol Motor Speedway. Teammate Joey Logano just wants to be around at the finish.

Hamlin has led a total of 282 laps in seven Thunder Valley starts, although all of those came in the spring daytime races. Still, he wound up third behind Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch here last summer and posted one of the quickest times early Friday afternoon in final practice for Saturday night's Sharpie 500.

The combination of a resurfacing project in 2007 and the introduction of NASCAR's new chassis left many teams struggling, but not Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota. He's finished sixth, third and second in his last three visits.

"It's been a little bit easier now that we've been on this surface a few times," Hamlin said. "You pretty much know the fast line around here. You've just got to get your car to work in that line. The first few times after they changed this race track, guys were all over the race track and no one really knew what was the best way."

If there's a frustration, it's that Hamlin hasn't been able to seal the deal. And while other teams were putting in mock qualifying runs near the end of the final 90-minute practice, Hamlin was more interested in how his car would handle in long runs.

"I've had cars good enough to win here at times," Hamlin said. "The last couple of times here, we've had just a top-three car here. It's tough to say. You've got to have a car that obviously will turn really well, but getting in the corner here is a bigger challenge and having a car that can race well in other guys. This is a race track where almost practice times are a little bit deceiving because it's so much different racing someone than it is out there by yourself."

And one of the things Hamlin does is watches digital television recordings of each practice, hoping to learn something he can use to his advantage during the race. (Continued)