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.

"During a race weekend, I'll go back and watch all the practices again, just to learn some things like that," Hamlin said. "You can see a sheet and see a guy a little but faster, but some times you can't see why until you look from an outside perspective. So you're always learning things, for sure."

After back-to-back bad finishes at Dover and Pocono, Hamlin was in danger of falling out of the top 12. Instead, thanks to seven top-10 finishes in the last nine starts -- including a come-from-behind win in the second Pocono race -- Hamlin has cemented himself as a solid championship contender.

"We've been on a pretty good stretch, the last eight to 10 weeks," Hamlin said. "I think we've only had one, maybe two, mechanical failures during that time, which is kind of sad to say -- you shouldn't have any. It's been cut to a minimum and that's kind of solidified our place in the Chase right now.

"Based on performance, we definitely should be where we're at right now. But as far as keeping the team pumped up, everyone knew that our on-track performance has been good. It's not like we were going out there each week trying to figure out why we can't compete for wins. It's harder to get morale up when you're slow than it is when you have speed and just freak things happen."

Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon moved to the top of the leaderboard at the end of the session, occupying three of the top-four spots. They were joined by Roush Fenway's Greg Biffle and three surprises: Marcos Ambrose, Scott Speed and Joey Logano.

Only two drivers -- Tony Stewart and John Andretti -- turned more laps than Logano in final practice, who was happy with the way his car responded in the corners.

"I'm always on the bottom," Logano said. "Usually I don't run that good on the top. I tried the top a few times and the car's pretty good up there, too. I'm pretty happy with what we've got, top and bottom. I'm real excited about it."

Logano finished 38th in the spring, running a conservative pace before a broken valve spring put him out with 13 laps to go. He said returning to Bristol with that experience under his belt was huge.

"A whole, whole bunch," Logano said. "It's a ton, how much it really helps. Knowing what you want, knowing where you're going, it's a big deal."