Hamlin hopes to make most of opportunity

Associated Press

AVONDALE, ARIZ.

Denny Hamlin had a championship within his sights before, four years ago when the Sprint Cup title was his to lose.

It slipped away over the final two races of the season, including a demoralizing defeat at Phoenix International Raceway. He arrived in Phoenix as the points leader and had Jimmie Johnson on the ropes as Hamlin led more than half the laps and appeared headed to the win.

Instead, he needed to make a late stop for fuel that took him out of contention for the victory. The disappointment carried into the season finale the following week as Hamlin was flat and battled nerves on a day he could have claimed his first NASCAR championship. Instead, watched Johnson celebrate a fifth consecutive title.

Four seasons later, Hamlin feels he’s more prepared for this opportunity even though the format has changed and he doesn’t believe his Joe Gibbs Racing team is as strong as it was in 2010.

Hamlin goes into today’s race at Phoenix tied for the series points lead with Joey Logano and needing to finish only 11th or better to get into next week’s championship finale.

“We have a position where we can control our own destiny,” he said. “I feel like this year the pressure on our race team is a lot less than what it was in 2010. The expectations are a lot less from the media and the fans’ perspective.”

Hamlin will start from the pole today, with Chase for the Sprint Cup championship contenders Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Logano and Matt Kenseth right behind him. Down to eight drivers in the Chase field, there are four spots in next week’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway up for grabs.

Some other things at Phoenix headed into the penultimate race of the season:

HARVICK’S TO LOSE

Harvick has been the class of the field at Phoenix, where he’s won three of the last four races in the desert and is the two-time defending winner of Sunday’s race.

He’s shown speed all weekend — he qualified third — and was fastest in Saturday’s first practice and second-fastest in the final session.

Harvick is last in the eight-driver Chase field, and is headed into Sunday believing he has to win to earn the automatic berth to Homestead.

DRIVERS ONLY

NASCAR called a Saturday morning meeting with crew chiefs and among the topics was a reminder that team members cannot get involved in confrontations between drivers.

The edict comes after four Hendrick Motorsports crew members were suspended for participating in a brawl last Sunday on pit road between Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski and their teams. The fight erupted when Kevin Harvick pushed Keselowski into the scrum, and both Gordon and Keselowski were bloodied.

No drivers were penalized by NASCAR.

Harvick has asked NASCAR to police crew member involvement and suggested drivers take their cars to an area where crew members can’t enter immediately after the race. Gordon doesn’t think NASCAR needs to go that far, but agreed crew members should stay out of post-race disagreements.

“There is nothing wrong with crew members being out there,” Gordon said. “But I think what their role is in that kind of situation is just back off, and let the drivers handle it.”