Hamlin maturing into title contender ... for next year

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- The post-race news conference for the winning team following Sunday's Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway had been in progress for several minutes when a minor glitch occurred.

A question was posed to winning driver Denny Hamlin, who admitted he was caught off guard.

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Denny Hamlin discusses his win at Martinsville, his outlook on the season and how the Chase can dampen a win.

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"I'm sorry. I was watching football highlights. Could you repeat the question?" said a smiling Hamlin, gesturing toward a television monitor in the corner of the media center that was indeed displaying NFL highlights at the moment.

"Don't worry," interjected Mike Ford, the crew chief for Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota. "I was paying attention. I'll take the question."

It was an understandable and totally excusable lapse in concentration for Hamlin, who after all had just spent the last four hours strapped in a 3,450-pound race car negotiating the tight, .525-mile paperclip that is Martinsville. But it did provide yet another example that Ford always has his back.

These two have reached a level of understanding and communication and commitment to each other that is reserved for the better tandems in the Sprint Cup garage. With three race wins now this season, and despite struggles in the previous two races that took them out of contention in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, they now have proven they belong amongst that elite group.

"I think time is the biggest thing that we've got together, and communication gets better each year," said Ford, now in his fourth full season with Hamlin.

The problem

The problem is, because of the aforementioned problems that removed them from the title Chase and because of the dominating nature of the Chase itself these days, how many folks actually will notice?

"Good point," Hamlin said with a chuckle once he had refocused on the interview at hand. "It really is a good point, without a doubt.

"I mean, everyone just talks about [the Chase] -- and you know, I'm sure on the Web sites, there will be 12 stories and there will be one about how much this guy lost to Jimmie [Johnson], how much that guy lost to Jimmie, how much Jimmie gained or stretched his points lead. There will be at least three or four stories like that. And then mine will be in that little column down in the corner, where it says, 'Denny Hamlin wins at Martinsville for the second time.'"

Editor's Note: Case in point:
• Even when he doesn't win, Johnson gains on the rest

Well, this one is for you then, Denny.

The fact is, and this isn't the first time this season it has been noted, that Hamlin is maturing big-time as a big-time Cup driver. He has had his moments where he lapses -- sort of like Sunday when those football highlights inadvertently distracted him for a moment. Earlier this season at Pocono, Hamlin railed on the race gods for all the poor luck that had been rained down upon the No. 11 team -- and one day later, Ford publicly took him to task for failing to appreciate that life really was pretty good in the seat of the No. 11 car and that bad racing luck occasionally bites everyone.

Well, everyone but the aforementioned three-time defending champion and current runaway Chase leader Jimmie Johnson, that is.

Hamlin proved again Sunday that his head usually is in the right place these days. He could have gone off the deep end mentally following disastrous finishes of 37th and 42nd, respectively, in the previous two races at California and Charlotte -- and might have earlier in his still-young career.

"It seems like whenever you have a tough week, whether it be California or Charlotte, it affects me until about Tuesday. And then it's like you start gearing up toward the next week. Then you've got to reassess your goals," Hamlin said.

"I told Mike before the start of this race, 'Let's just get back to the top five in points, because it's a shame for us to be 11th in points as competitive as we've been all season.' "

Now they are ninth in points and, remarkably, starting to have some serious fun.

Messing with Jimmie

Much was made earlier in the weekend about someone needing to "rattle Jimmie Johnson's cage." One reporter in particular harped on it with every contender who marched into the media center for pre-race interviews Friday.

Problem was, the question kept getting posed to guys like Juan Montoya and Mark Martin. As it turns out, Hamlin is the guy who might be able to mess with Johnson the most.

That certainly turned out to be the case Sunday, when the two bumped and banged each other to such a degree that Johnson later admitted he became more than a little annoyed with Hamlin. Told about this later, Hamlin seemed amused.

"I thought the code was you bump him once to let him now you're there; two is get out of the way; and three is I'll move you," he said with a smile.

Later, he added: "I was in no way going to endanger him, knock him out of the way or anything like that. I was just tapping him, making him think a little bit, trying to make him make a mistake or just get out of the way."

Eventually, Hamlin did indeed get by him -- and on more than one occasion. And he stayed in front despite several yellow caution flags toward the end that seemed suited for Johnson to mount his usual final charge.

Afterward, Hamlin admitted feeling sort of a freedom from the burdens of being closer to the top of the Chase standings. He said it was a blast to joust with Johnson without real fear of the consequences in the point standings for a change.

"I mean, to me, it sucks to not have an opportunity to win the championship this year," Hamlin said. "But hopefully we're setting ourselves up to be one of the favorites next year.

"It's kind of a fun power position to be racing around guys that are racing for a championship, and you have nothing to lose and all you're doing is going for a race win. That part of it is kind of fun because you can push a little harder and maybe take a few more risks. That part of it is fun."

It makes for great highlights, too. Hopefully, for Hamlin's sake, plenty of folks are watching.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Joe Menzer is the author of "The Great American Gamble: How the 1979 Daytona 500 Gave Birth to a NASCAR Nation." Click here to purchase.

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