A 7th place finish for Denny Hamlin at Las Vegas Motor Speedway didn’t come easy in Denny’s hard fought day. After making an engine change before the race, Denny was forced to start 43rd at a track that was near impossible to pass at.

It took Denny nearly every lap to make his way up to 7th where he would finish. Tires were extremely hard at Vegas this weekened which caused the cars to barely fall off in lap times, and made the cars almost identical in speed. Track position was key the whole race, and unfortunately for Denny he had none of it.

Denny started out early in the race extremely tight, and defined it as “plowing” a term used to describe a race car that won’t turn going in, but wants to go straight.

Mike Ford made the proper adjustments to quickly get Denny’s tight problem fixed, but went a little to far and Denny actually got loose mid race.

Denny was able to make up some spots on the track, but a fast pit crew was key in today’s race. Denny’s pit crew helped him make up spots and kept him in contention all day for the race.

Denny was up to a race high of 6th towards the end of the race, but overadjustments on the car bit Denny again and he started to get tight, which caused him to fall back to 7th where he would finish.

The #11 FedEx Toyota certainly learned alot today and they find themselves sitting in 7th positions, 18 points back in the points standings. Far better then last year, when Denny didn’t even gain his first top 10 finish tell his win at Martinsville.