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Filed under: Denny Hamlin, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR

Denny Hamlin didn't hesitate to put a grade on his race car in Sunday night's 500-miler at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"It was an A-plus on the racetrack," Hamlin said. "The car handled great. I was just messing around out there and having a good time."

A "frustrating" blown motor -- as Hamlin labeled it -- dropped the No. 11 from contention and out of the race after 143 laps, including 74 that he led.

"I know if we had the reliability, we could win this championship and the odds would be pretty good to win the championship if I can just keep it together for 10 weeks," said Hamlin, partially throwing his team under the bus for the failure.

The good news for Hamlin, and the spirit of his team for that matter, is that this weekend's stop at Richmond International Raceway for the 36-race NASCAR Sprint Cup tour will be a bit of a homecoming for the 29-year-old driver.

 

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Filed under: Mark Martin, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR

It's a fair question. And it received a fair answer.

How does last year's NASCAR Sprint Cup championship runner-up Mark Martin not even qualify for the 12-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup championship this season while Kevin Harvick goes from barely cracking the top 20 in points in 2009 to sitting atop the standings entering the final regular season race of the year Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway?

"Well, you know,'' Martin said Tuesday with a quiet chuckle. "I don't really know. I just know that it happens.''

"I saw the (Richard) Childress (Racing) cars start their momentum at Indy last year and gradually build in performance ... I knew that they were going to have a great year this year.

"Didn't really see this coming for the 5 (Martin's) car ... Things change, the target is a moving target and we were hitting the bull's eye last year. And we haven't found the bull's eye this year.''

So how did Martin's sentimental journey veer so off course?

He doesn't have a good answer for that one.

 

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