Hamlin captures pole at Dover

Associated Press

dover, del.

Could it really be true love between Denny Hamlin and Dover?

So far, it’s at least a crush.

His performance today will really determine the fate of this relationship.

Trying his best to adjust his approach toward his least favorite track, Hamlin’s reignited courtship produced fantastic results Saturday when he turned a lap of 159.299 mph to win the pole at Dover International Speedway.

Hamlin has been open in his disdain for the 1-mile concrete oval and knew he’d have to conquer his Dover demons to keep his driven bid for his first career Cup championship rolling along.

Hamlin, third in the points standings, turned to a sports psychologist for advice. The message for Hamlin was this, “Let your challenge for the week be to fall in love with this track.”

Hamlin says the good karma, and a great No. 11 Toyota, all played a part in the turnaround.

“I think that right now we have everything rolling,” Hamlin said. “That part of it is giving me a ton of confidence.”

Hamlin is six points behind Brad Keselowski and seven points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

Johnson starts 11th as he chases history at Dover. He raced his way into the track’s history books in June with his seventh win on the concrete, matching the mark held by Hall of Fame drivers Richard Petty and Bobby Allison.

No active driver owns the track like the five-time Sprint Cup champion. Johnson led 289 of the 400 laps and looked every bit like the driver who swept the two Cup races at Dover in 2002 and 2009. Johnson also won at Dover on Sept. 26, 2010 and he won the September 2005 race.

Dover has traditionally given Hamlin fits. He has an average finish of 20.5 in 13 career starts at Dover. He finished 36th or worse during a four-race stretch from 2007 to 2009. He’s said he just doesn’t like the track known as the Monster Mile.

Here’s a curve. On Saturday, he talked about winning.

“We’ve got a car that’s very capable of staying in the front and hopefully we’ll have a shot to win,” Hamlin said.