By Matt Courson, Staff Writer
LOUDON, N.H. — Denny Hamlin finished second Sunday in the Foxwoods Resort & Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Sunday. The finish marks Hamlin’s best finish since is last win at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this season.
“It was a fun race. We had a fast FedEx Express Camry today, really happy about our performance and how we’ve been the last few months.”
Hamlin was piloting a backup car after crashing the primary car on Friday in practice. He started from the rear and drove straight to the front; Hamlin led 113 laps, which was the second-most of the afternoon.
“Chris (Gabeheart, crew chief ) done a great job preparing this backup car,” Hamlin said. “This is nowhere near the car that I wrecked on Friday.”
Hamlin lost the lead to eventual race winner Kevin Harvick on lap 266. Hamlin pitted for two tires meanwhile Harvick stayed out on the racetrack on tires that had more than 50 laps.
The Virginia-native closed in on Harvick as the laps winded down in the race, and Hamlin even tried to use the front bumper to move the driver of the No. 4 Ford out of the way, but was unable to execute.
“I wanted to just tap him [in the corner], but I didn’t want to completely screw him,” Hamlin said. “I at least wanted to give him a fair shot there. And then down the backstretch, I kind of let off and I was like ‘Alright, well I’m just gonna pass him on the outside and try to do this thing the right way’ and I still had another big run and he just turned right. I would have done the same thing.”