Hamlin ready to shake California calamities

Last year, Hamlin qualified 13th at Auto Club, only to be replaced before the start of the race due to vision problems. It was later discovered that a piece of metal had become lodged in Hamlin’s eye.

Hamlin said he thought his team had a car capable of winning last year at ACS. In his absence, Sam Hornish Jr. drove the No. 11 Toyota, eventually finishing 17th.

“I’m just as motivated (this year),” Hamlin said last weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. “The last race laps I ran around there was when I got crashed on the last lap racing for a win.

“Ultimately, my motivation is to go there and perform at a really high level. It’s been circled for like a year or two now to run well there. I just didn’t get a chance last year and hopefully I will this year.”

The last two races at Auto Club have been won by teammate Kyle Busch. This year, it will be Busch that is the one on the sidelines as the No. 18 driver is recovering from leg injuries sustained in an XFINITY Series race at Daytona last month.

Crew chief Dave Rogers, previously with Busch, currently heads up Hamlin’s team.

Hamlin has a pair of top-five finishes this season — he was fourth at Daytona and fifth at Las Vegas — and two results outside the top 20.

He’s 13th in the points standings and, like a lot of other drivers, still trying to sort out this year’s rules package.

“I wouldn’t think this rules package would suit me and my style particularly,” he said. “I’d rather have 1,000 horsepower than 700. The less downforce I would say probably does suit me a little bit better, but I think we’ve just kind of optimized where we’re at. We’ve been a top-five car every week and it’s a shame that we made a mistake at Atlanta and spun out, but we were top-five for sure going to finish there, I thought.

“We’re top-five, but we’re still just a little behind on speed from where we need to from the 4 (Kevin Harvick) and then the Hendrick cars, but it’s all about for us trying to find that little bit of extra speed.”

Even as they continue to search, Hamlin sees improvement, saying the team is “way closer” than where it stood competitively a year ago.

While he has 24 career wins in Sprint Cup competition, none have come at ACS. He has, however, qualified on the pole for the last two events there and scored a career-best finish of third in 2008.

“I’m pretty optimistic about what’s to come in the months ahead and hopefully if we can make it in the Chase then we can make another run at it,” he said.

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