NASCAR - "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines"

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    • 16870 posts
    April 30, 2013 9:25 AM PDT
    CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Denny Hamlin plans to start Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway, but don't look for him to be in the car long.

    Assuming nothing changes during practice or qualifying, it will be the first race back for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver since suffering a compression fracture in his lower back on the final lap of the March 24 event at Auto Club Speedway in California.

    Hamlin tweeted on Tuesday that he was cleared "just to start,'' reinforcing what he told ESPN.com the plan was two weeks ago and what he said last weekend at Richmond International Raceway when doctors did not clear him for that race.

    "They all came to the conclusion they were happy with me starting Talladega and getting out when it's a safe time to get out,'' Hamlin said at RIR. "So ... we'll start our process at Talladega and then rescan again and try to go to Darlington."

    Hamlin told ESPN.com at Kansas he would drop to the back of the pack at Talladega and ride around until the first caution, then give way to backup driver Brian Vickers.

    By starting Hamlin will collect all the points for whatever finish Vickers earns. Because Talladega is a 2.66-mile track the change of drivers can be done under caution without losing a lap.

    Hamlin said at RIR he doesn't anticipate problems making a quick change.

    "I could do it pretty easy,'' he said. "Really, I am physically capable of doing the same things other than running. I just can't do that yet. Getting up and down I can do just as easy as I could before the injury. I really only had about a week and a half of severe pain from the actual spine itself.''

    Hamlin has fallen out of the top 10 to 28th in points while sitting out the past five races. He is 71 points outside the top 20, which is where he must get over the next 17 races to be eligible for one of two wild card spots determined by drivers inside the top 20 with the most wins.

    JGR's Matt Kenseth currently is the only driver ranked between 11th and 20th with a win. He has two, but because of penalties imposed by NASCAR after his win at Kansas only one counts toward the Chase unless the sanctions are overturned in a May 8 appeal.

    By starting Talladega, Hamlin will be one week ahead of the original prognosis that had him missing six races. He still has to have another scan on his spine next week and be cleared to drive at Darlington before making a full return.

    Hamlin said he will consider having surgery during the offseason to repair any damage from this injury and other back issues he's had over the past few years. If not cleared for Darlington he said there could come a point when he has to consider surgery during the season.

    "Obviously, if it goes past Darlington our chances are crushed even harder,'' he said of making the Chase. "Eventually, you have to have a shutdown point of not going out there and racing for nothing at a point.

    "A recovery on the kind of surgery that I would like to have is about a month-and-a-half or so. I could potentially come back maybe for the tail end of the year. It wouldn't be a season-ending.''
    • Moderator
    • 16870 posts
    May 3, 2013 4:58 PM PDT
    Denny Hamlin starts 4th on Sunday!
  • May 3, 2013 5:03 PM PDT
    Go get em' bulldog!
  • May 4, 2013 12:55 AM PDT
    The ARCA race at Talladega last night was CRAZY!!!
    • 719 posts
    May 4, 2013 1:55 AM PDT
    hey john i think denny should stay out of the car dega is not a good track for him to come back at i know he plane on getting out of it at the first yellow but if he is involved in the first yellow he could do more damage to his back and may not race again
    • 5420 posts
    May 4, 2013 2:55 AM PDT
    Seems like Denny is a pretty sharp young man that would hopefully not do anything he felt could ruin his career. But then again he is young and has some of the "I'm indestructible" attitude young guys app seam to come standard with.

    Hoping he does well and stays safe!
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    • 16870 posts
    May 4, 2013 4:47 AM PDT
    I'm hoping everything works out, it felt weird rooting for Martin and Vickers. :-)
    • 5420 posts
    May 4, 2013 7:14 AM PDT
    I know what you mean John. I only root for drivers not numbers or teams.
    • 719 posts
    May 5, 2013 12:39 AM PDT
    did yall watch that nationwide race last night????? man that was a wild race,and what a finish...great yet crazy move from regan smith to get the win congrates to regan and the whole jrm team with their 1st and 3rd place finish
    • Moderator
    • 16870 posts
    May 5, 2013 2:44 PM PDT
    Both races were insane.
    • 5420 posts
    May 6, 2013 6:46 AM PDT
    Really!!!! I watched the end of that race several times and can still not figure out where Regan came from!!!
    • Moderator
    • 16870 posts
    May 6, 2013 4:12 PM PDT
    Just like the Nationwide race with Smith.
  • May 6, 2013 4:26 PM PDT
    It was fun listening to David Ragan and David Gilliland's after race interview. It wasn't rehearsed and they had real enthusiasm.
  • May 6, 2013 10:28 PM PDT
    I agree Fred. That was awesome. That's what been missing for so long in Nascar. Real spontinuity, not advertisements. Waiting for Denny to get back for real. This feels like Ernie Irvan all over again for me.
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    • 16870 posts
    May 7, 2013 4:41 AM PDT
    The "battle of the black cars" Earnhardt, Wallace, and Irvan, I miss those days.
    • 719 posts
    May 8, 2013 10:09 AM PDT
    me to john
    • 5420 posts
    May 8, 2013 1:41 PM PDT
    Yep , and the thing about it was they raced hard and that sometimes meant bumpin' and grindin', but none of them carried it to the media whining about this number or that number car.
  • May 8, 2013 3:03 PM PDT
    Aaaaaah, the good ol' days. I don't believe we'll ever see those days again. By the looks of the grandstands, I'm not alone.
    • Moderator
    • 16870 posts
    May 8, 2013 4:54 PM PDT
    In the early 90's my in-laws lived in Virginia near Bristol Va / Tn, would have had a place to stay but ya couldn't get a ticket to either race, now they are giving discounts just to sell them.
  • May 9, 2013 2:38 PM PDT
    Used to go to Bristol from 93 till the early 2000's. Bruton Smith really made some great changes to the track. Then Earnhardt was killed, Ernie and Rusty retired, the Busch brothers showed up, then Bruton paved the track. Bristol took a nose dive then. Used to be the best race on the circuit, now just another boring race.
    • 844 posts
    May 11, 2013 4:58 AM PDT
    We still pack 'em in down here at Texas Speedway!

    But I got to agree I don't like the attitudes that come withsome of these new drivers (Bush brothers, etc).  Just go out race hard, bump if you have to and when its over shake the winners hand, tell him good race and that you'll get him next time!
    • Moderator
    • 16870 posts
    May 11, 2013 5:49 AM PDT
    My wife has a friend that lives close to the Texas track, he was saying how packed it gets, and how the souvenirs were gone 2 hours before the race even started.
    • 5420 posts
    May 11, 2013 12:33 PM PDT
    California Speedway is like that too.
    • Moderator
    • 16870 posts
    May 11, 2013 6:14 PM PDT
    Great race last night!
    • 5420 posts
    May 12, 2013 12:43 PM PDT
    Man I am still hating the "new" NASCAR.com website!!!!! It shouldn't be that hard to locate the standings.