Associated Press
LOUDON, N.H. — Experience has taught Denny Hamlin the best way to handle adversity.
The 32-year-old NASCAR Sprint Cup star lost a race on Sunday he almost certainly should have won. A mix-up over how many tires to change late in the race dropped Hamlin from the lead to 13th place for the final restart. A furious charge to the end still left him a little more than two seconds and 10 car lengths behind winner Kasey Kahne.
Hamlin came in second despite leading 150 of the 300 laps on the one-mile oval and holding leads of more than five seconds several times.
But despite his disappointment about losing when he obviously had the fastest car at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, Hamlin was able to put his feelings aside and look at the positives his Joe Gibbs Racing team has racked up this year.
Hamlin is fifth in points, has two wins, is a cinch to qualify for the 10-race Chase for the Championship and likely to be one of the drivers to beat for the 2012 Cup title.
Referring to 2010, when he won a series-high eight races and finished second to Jimmie Johnson in the championship, Hamlin said, “I feel like our performance right now, even though we don’t have the wins we had in 2010 at this point, I think we’re more competitive now than what we were in 2010.
“At the mile-and-a-half (tracks), we don’t have the speed we had in 2010, but we’re dangerously close competitive-wise to where we were in 2010. Now we’re just going to take that experience from then and apply it to this year.”
The tire mistake, with crew chief Darian Grubb believing that Hamlin wanted him to change four tires instead of the two, is not going to alter anything.
“I’ve been through this long enough now (that) you’re going to have plenty more chances in the future,” Hamlin said, “especially the way we’re running.”