Via FedEx Racing

Denny Hamlin finished ninth in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Round 5 of the 2011 Chase for the championship won by Matt Kenseth.

Hamlin restarted fifth after the final caution with 12 laps remaining, but a tight race car prevented the 30-year-old driver from challenging for the win, as he collected his 11th top-10 of the season.

“Those last two restarts we were in the bottom line and the bottom line went nowhere all day long,” said Hamlin. “It was still a good day for our FedEx Camry. We’re making strides and we’re heading in the right direction. We’re still trying to dig through all this information that I’ve got to give these guys to head us in the right direction for the future.”

The #11 FedEx Express Toyota started 17th in the 334-lap event around the 1.5-mile speedway. Hamlin and crew chief Mike Ford worked through a tight condition on the race car during most of the race, but timely cautions, helpful adjustments and quick work by the FedEx crew on pit road put Hamlin inside the top-five with less than 100 laps to go.

Hamlin ran among the top-five as the laps clicked, with his car working better on the short runs. A flurry of late-race cautions moved the #11 Toyota into the top-three, but the tight condition returned and track position shuffled Hamlin back in the final running order.

The finish keeps Hamlin 12th in the Chase standings following Charlotte, 86 points behind leader Carl Edwards.

The Sprint Cup Series returns to action at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, Oct. 23.

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