Clean air was king at Fontana this weekend, and unfortunately for Denny, he had none of it. Denny started 43rd in the field after making a transmission change and had alot of ground to make up on the start.

Hamlin quickly made it into the top 20 but from there lacked grip coming off the turns while in traffic. Towards the end of the race Hamlin finally made it up to fifth, but the restarts would prove to be killer for #11 Fed Ex Team. Mike Ford commented on the radio “If you can get the clean air, you can win this race”. Unfortunately the restarts didn’t play into Hamlin’s hand, as most of the drivers were running over each other trying to get position. Denny was up to 6th after one restart with Johnson behind him when Montoya started holding him up. Denny was very frustrated with Montoya on the radio and commented “why did he need to do that?”

Denny worked his butt off throughout the day to overcome starting in the back, handling problems, and a lack of clean air to come out with an 8th place finish for the 4th Chase race. Denny is behind Johnson by 36 points, but luckily Denny faces some good tracks ahead such as Charlotte, Martinsville, Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead. All of which Denny has been dominate at.