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RICHMOND, Va. – Denny Hamlin grimaced in pain as he was helped out of his No. 11 FedEx Toyota on Richmond International Raceway pit road Saturday night. Team members had bags of ice ready to lay on top of his swollen right knee – the result of a torn ACL suffered in a pick-up basketball game Tuesday night.
Hamlin asked for a moment and took a seat on the pit wall – the pain of his injury lessened a bit by the impressive sixth-place finish he turned in during the Federated Auto Parts 400 regular season finale.
Hamlin led twice for 14 laps and toughed out his 13th top-10 finish on the season only days after doctors said he could delay surgery on his knee until after the season.
Relying on competitive adrenaline and championship motivation, Hamlin insisted his knee wasn’t going to slow him down. And it sure didn’t look like it did Saturday night.
The Martinsville Speedway winner will be seeded 11th in the 16-car driver Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field heading into the first round of the 10-week playoffs next Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway.
“I don’t think the knee adds any stress [to the Chase],” Hamlin said. “The stress comes from making sure we don’t have any mistakes. Just one silly mistake can take you out of it. I’m confident with the way we’re running and the speed of the cars, so we should be OK.
“Chicago, in general, has been really good for us. We tested there in the 11-car and we have one of the fastest crews out there, so a lot of things are in our favor.”
Hamlin’s team owner, Joe Gibbs, revealed after the race that Hamlin was so intent on racing that he sent the team’s back-up driver (Erik Jones) home early this weekend.
“I feel real confident,” Gibbs said of Hamlin managing his injury. “We’ve been through this before. Last time it was with his braking leg and he handled that well. We’ve got the best doctors in the world looking at him.”
Hamlin’s teammates Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch finished 1-2 in the race buoying his expectations and a wave of momentum for the JGR team that has won eight of the last 11 events – 11 of the last 21.