FORT WORTH, Tex.: One of the favorites for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship has some work to do next weekend at ISM (Ariz.) Raceway in Phoenix if he wants to find himself apart of the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) International Speedway in two weeks after suffering a poor finish in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Entering the second round of the semi-final round in Fort Worth, Hamlin qualified his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry third and hunted crucial Playoffpoints at the end of Stage 1 until his day turned upside down.
Restarting fifth on Lap 77 following a caution for Brad Keselowski and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Hamlin spun off Turn 4 on Lap 80 while running seventh and slid into the infield grass to bring out the last caution in Stage 1.
While the team was able to repair Hamlin’s car good enough to maintain minimum speed, the damage took them out of contention for a good finish and left the five-time Cup Series winner in 2019 claiming 28th, six laps down when the checkered flag flew.
Kevin Harvick who was outside the top-four entering Sunday’s race won his third straight Texas Motor Speedway fall Playoff race and cemented his No. 4 into the Championship 4 race at Homestead on Nov. 17.
“Just got up in that stuff before it was really broke in,” offered Hamlin. “Just lost control. That’s all there is to it. Proud of the whole FedEx team for putting their best effort forward so we could be there at the end. Did the best we could and we’ll go to Phoenix and try to win.”
For Hamlin, the rough finish for the Joe Gibbs Racing team dipped him outside the cutoff line.
With just one race remaining in the Round of 8, Hamlin sits fifth in the championship standings, 20 points behind rival Joey Logano.
Earlier this year at Phoenix, Hamlin finished fifth after starting third, but the Chesterfield, Virginia driver hasn’t finished better than seventh in the last four penultimate races of the season at Phoenix.
Still, Hamlin believes he and his Chris Gabehart led team can win their sixth race of the season and be amongst the four drivers fighting for the championship title.
“The car and the effort will be there, that’s for sure,” added Hamlin. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we can go there and win. In these circumstances, I like the challenge.
“We’re going to go out there and give it our best shot and put our best foot forward and see if we can’t get a win next week.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
