NASCAR SPRINT CUP AUTO CLUB 400

Hamlin remembers last year’s crash, drives on

Denny Hamlin broke a vertebra in a hard crash at Auto Club Speedway last March after an on-track run-in with rival Joey Logano. Hamlin missed five races because of the injury.
Denny Hamlin broke a vertebra in a hard crash at Auto Club Speedway last March after an on-track run-in with rival Joey Logano. Hamlin missed five races because of the injury.

FONTANA, Calif. - The last time Denny Hamlin drove at Auto Club Speedway, California’s venerable 2-mile oval, he had to be airlifted from the track.

The wreck was on his mind the first time he drove into that fateful third turn again this weekend in preparation for today’s Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup event.

“The next time I came around, it was an afterthought,” Hamlin said. “And I haven’t thought about it since.”

That last lap crash with bitter rival Joey Logano cost both men a chance to win at Fontana last March, and Kyle Busch slipped between them for NASCAR’s most spectacular finish of last season.

“It was a bad weekend for us, for sure, and obviously affected the rest of our season and beyond,” said Hamlin, who broke a vertebra when he smashed into the inside wall. “But you’ve got to move on and you’ve got to deal with the adversity and be stronger from it, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Hamlin and Logano are among several cars to watch as NASCAR’s new season gets into gear at one of the drivers’ favorite tracks today, but there’s probably no driver who wants a win at Fontana more than Hamlin.

“My engineer always asks me to send three tracks where I would most like to win, and maybe they will spend a little bit more extra effort on that particular race track,” said Hamlin, who starts 13th. “For me, California is No. 1 because we never made it to the finish last year. We had a great shot to win it, but we never made it. It would feel like we do have to get some redemption, and it would make a great story.”

Hamlin still hasn’t recaptured top form after the crash, which cost him nearly five full races and left him in back pain for months.

“Physically, I feel really good,” Hamlin said. “The best I’ve felt back-wise in a really long time - I mean years and years. I’m better than I was before the wreck, for sure.”

Fontana added 1,000 feet of SAFER barriers after last year’s wreck, but the drivers don’t want changes to the pavement, which had become one of the roughest on the Sprint Cup circuit. It’s wide enough for aggressive passing and unpredictable enough for crazy finishes, and the worn out grooves reward the best drivers.

“It puts it more in the drivers’ hands, and I think that’s good,” Carl Edwards said.

The Fontana asphalt hasn’t been altered much in 17 years, and that benign neglect has turned this 2-mile oval into one of the NASCAR circuit’s favorite tracks for racers.

“You could poll, and probably 42 out of 43 drivers would say, ‘Please do not change an old, broken-up racetrack,’ ” Hamlin said.

TODAY’S LINEUP

Auto Club 400 After Friday qualifying; race today At Auto Club Speedway Fontana, Calif.

Lap length: 2 miles (Car number in parentheses)

  1. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 187.315 mph

  2. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 187.105

  3. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevy, 186.935

  4. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevy, 186.901

  5. (15) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 186.461

  6. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevy, 186.384

  7. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 186.273

  8. (9) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 186.013

  9. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 185.878

  10. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevy, 185.792

  11. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevy, 185.773

  12. (78) Martin Truex Jr., Chevy, 185.725

  13. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 185.323

  14. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 185.314

  15. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevy, 185.290

  16. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevy, 185.209

  17. (41) Kurt Busch, Chevy, 185.166

  18. (47) AJ Allmendinger, Chevy, 184.715

  19. (55) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 184.521

  20. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevy, 183.960

  21. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 183.955

  22. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 183.861

  23. (7) Michael Annett, Chevy, 183.491

  24. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 185.095

  25. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevy, 184.525

  26. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevy, 184.322

  27. (10) Danica Patrick, Chevy, 184.299

  28. (51) Justin Allgaier, Chevy, 183.983

  29. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, 183.922

  30. (27) Matt Crafton, Chevy, 183.641

  31. (13) Casey Mears, Chevy, 183.580

  32. (30) Parker Kligerman, Toyota, 182.918

  33. (35) David Reutimann, Ford, 182.219

  34. (26) Cole Whitt, Toyota, 181.525

  35. (32) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 181.507

  36. (36) Reed Sorenson, Chevy, 181.365

  37. (33) Brian Scott, Chevy, owner points

  38. (98) Josh Wise, Chevy, owner points

  39. (83) Ryan Truex, Toyota, owner points

  40. (23) Alex Bowman, Toyota, owner points

  41. (34) David Ragan, Ford, owner points

  42. (66) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, owner points

  43. (40) Landon Cassill, Chevy, owner points

Sports, Pages 25 on 03/23/2014

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