Memories of 2012 conjured with trip to New Hampshire
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LOUDON, N.H. — A visit to New Hampshire Motor Speedway two years ago still holds many fond memories for Denny Hamlin. That trip to the Magic Mile was a dominant performance where he guaranteed a victory on Twitter days earlier, slightly backtracked, but ultimately trounced the field with a “called shot” celebration in Victory Lane as the capper.
But current events have somewhat clouded that memory. Brad Keselowski ruled at New Hampshire in July. His familiar Deuce rolled to victory in the regular-season finale at Richmond. The hot streak continued with Keselowski’s fifth win of the season the following week at Chicagoland Speedway in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff opener. Sure enough, Keselowski’s No. 2 was atop the leaderboard again Friday afternoon, leading opening Sprint Cup practice and then winning the Coors Light Pole Award.
With all the talk about the hottest driver on the circuit, does 2012 still seem like recent history?
“Well, somehow my car’s disappeared and it’s got a 2 on the side of it now,” Hamlin quipped.
Jokes aside this time around in New Hampshire, Hamlin seems convinced of one more guarantee — that the string of 13 different winners at the 1.058-mile track will end with a repeat triumph in Sunday’s Sylvania 300 (2 p.m. ET, ESPN). Hamlin just hopes he’s the one snapping the streak and not Keselowski.
Hoisting the lobster trophy come Sunday would give Hamlin a free pass into the Contender Round, the next three-race elimination phase in the redesigned Chase format. A little rekindling of the magic of 2012 from his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 team wouldn’t hurt the cause.
“You just show up and your car’s just really fast and you can’t do anything wrong,” Hamlin said of that charmed performance here two years ago. “You’re fastest in every practice and you just know what’s going to happen. … It’s a good feeling to have a car that fast, and know that you would spend more time messing it up than you would making it better. As a driver, those days don’t come around too often and I haven’t seen it since.”
Hamlin opened the postseason with a convincing sixth-place effort last weekend as the top-finishing Toyota team at Chicagoland, potentially setting the tone for what could be a productive path through the Chase Grid. The nine-year veteran reiterated his view that the 10 playoff venues stack up favorably for his team’s chances, but he’s careful not to get ahead of himself as he searches for his first championship in NASCAR’s premier series.
“All my better race tracks are in the Chase. They really start getting good for me the last four races of the Chase,” Hamlin said. “The key for us is to get eligible with four races to go and get to that final eight spots. If we can do that, then I feel on speed and our record on those second-to-last tracks, we can put ourselves in position to go to Homestead with a shot. That’s looking so far ahead — we have to concentrate on what we can do this weekend.”
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