In the 2019 season Denny Hamlin bounced back after going winless in the 2018 campaign and people were thinking he'd lose his seat at Joe Gibbs Racing to set one of the best seasons of his career making his mark as an elite driver. However that's not what this is about, today we shall travel back 9 years into the past with some familiar faces, looks and cars plus some unfamiliar faces looks and cars. In every sport out there a great comback is praised by the fans. It doesn't matter if it's a driver known a more of a hero or villain if you battle back from something huge it shows massive respect. Denny Hamlin's 2010 season in the Cup Series has him do just that. Before the season began Hamlin had torn his ACL in a basketball accident, however he said that it wouldn't affect his performance out on track as he and the 11 team were ready for what many thought would be a breakout season. It would not start out so well unfortunately with him being shuffled to 17th in the Daytona 500. 29th at California after getting a flat tire from contact on a restart late in the race, and 19th in Las Vegas. At Atlanta Denny had the speed that was anticipated leading 32 laps but a flat left front tire undid it all and a 21st is all that was left to show for it. The struggles continued with a 19th place in Bristol. This put him 19th in points and the season was already looking hard for the 11 team. And it was disappointing after the way they ended 2009 with 4 wins, 15 top 5s, 20 top 10s and a 5th place points finish. Another end was the rear wing on the racecars

in return of the spoiler.

And an extra end was the end of Hamlin's pain in his knee when NASCAR was on a break for easter when the 29 year old announced he was going to get surgery to prevent any further damage to his knee. Now he is going to one of his strongest and favorite tracks, Martinsville. Hamlin was ready to go having one of the best cars all race long. He'd take the lead before halfway and would only give the lead up on short runs to Jeff Burton however on long runs nobody could match the FedEx Toyota. It wasn't all straight for at the end of the race. Btw warning at the end of this clip will have an high pitched noise so I apologize, prepare yourselves now.

Wow! Just amazing recovery for Denny Hamlin to claim his first victory of 2010 after dominating 172 of the 508 laps. Brilliant, if a torn ACL wasn't holding him back than how would he'd be healed up? The next race at Phoenix however Casey Mears is on standby because Denny is still sore from surgery but Hamlin would tough it out for the entire race to an 30th place finish. He might have had a chance for a top 15 at least but after dealing with battery issues past the one third mark the left his car stalled just off of pit road he lost 2 laps and couldn't get them back. At the lone star state Texas the race would have a pretty good start moving his way through the pack into the top 15 after starting 29th. He then got into the top 5 after a little bit of strategy play by staying out while most others came in from a caution after a short green flag run. He was able to maintain a 4th-5th place for the majority of the rest of the race. Until a late caution, a 2 tire change and intensity rising set up this turn of events. Btw no high pitched noise is included this time or any other videos for the rest of this part.

So apparently so far he has won rain postponed races but you'll take a win when you can get it right? Martinsville was postponed to Monday and so was Texas, anyway with this victory the 11 is now for the first time all season in the top 12 in points currently positioned 11th in points 32 above cutoff drivers Joey Logono his teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing and Tony Stewart his former teammate. At Talladega Hamlin had a strong car and run all race long, even though he spun out at lap 73 it didn't matter as he finished in 4th place after leading 17 laps. At his hometown track in Richmond the 11 finished 11th now positioned in 7th in the points 59 ahead of chase cutoff driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. However Darlington would look to provide a different result at one of Denny Hamlin's best racetracks. After starting in 8th he ran up front all race long even though it took 140 laps for him to get up to the lead. A caution came out at about halfway and from around lap 173-228 the strategy shuffled with some taking 2 tires, 4 tires, fuel only, or just plain staying out. Still Hamlin was able to work his way back up towards the front. At lap 290 the 11 got up to the lead against one of the dominant cars Kyle Busch. Yet he wasn't the biggest problem, it wad Jeff Gordon, and Jeff Burton pressuring the Virginia native and in fact Burton nearly got into the wall on his first attempt so Hamlin just kept the lead a little while longer. But eventually with 27 laps to go Hamlin would fall back to 2nd. However one man's bad luck is another man's good luck, in this case Joey Logono spun out in turn 2 after making his final stop bringing out caution number 11. Yet also Jeff Gordon one of the main dominantors missed pit road on his green flag stop putting him out of winning contention JUST when green flag stops began. With about 80 to go crew chief of the 11 car Mike Ford told Hamlin to watch after the left side tires cause they could be the last ones he gets and he wasn't kidding. Hamlin was able to beat Burton off pit road regaining the lead and just to make things easier Burton ran over his pit equipment so he had to start out at the rear so the last 20 laps it was all abord the FedEx Express.
Career win number 11 for the driver of the 11 on the 11th race of the season. It doesn't stop there though. Denny Hamlin not only tamed the track too tough to tame he did it in the Xfinity race and won the Direct TV head to head competition meaning his charity win $285,000! The momentum is very real for the JGR team and it kept on at Dover which Hamlin says is his worst track on the calendar. Guess what he finished 4th. So looking ahead to the chase this is definitely a good feeling to get that result at a track you struggle at. Let's not think about the chase yet while the 5th place points position looks good and while the 214 cutoff gap looks good there is still a long 14 races to go to set up the chase. To make it to that point you'd could say that any chasers or anyone competing for a championship is an elite competitor. Maybe the term "all star" is appropriate, well before the longest race the NASCAR Cup Series drivers will ever face it's the All Star Race where the winner gets over $1,000,000. Unfortunately for Hamlin he'd finish 4th but what's worse for him and the Joe Gibbs Racing organization is that he had a rough incident with his teammate Kyle Busch just adding this year where things are tense between teammates.

So that's their sides of the story between them, despite the comments that they made against one another this incident is a thing of the past which would be good for the both of them being positioned 2nd and 5th in points and appearing to dominate races since the rear spoiler returned to the racecars. In fact Denny said in his post race interview after the all star race that it's a good problem to have when two drivers have the same type of winning equipment wanting to outdo each other. So in the Coca Cola 600 Hamlin would run in the top 5 for the first 167 laps of the race, but when Jimmie Johnson nearly spins out in front of Hamlin accidentally clipped the grass with the left front of his car damaging it trying taking avoiding action. The speed went away from the 11 then now fading to 18th after getting the free pass 3 times. Pocono brought a different story with Hamlin beginning the race in 5th ironically where he was in points instantly went to the lead at lap 4 after getting by Kyle Busch. 13 laps later he'd lose the lead to the 18 and would briefly fade to 3rd for the next 80 laps. However after an exciting restart by points leader Kevin Harvick he would get the lead again but this time Hamlin would go dominate. Fuel becomes an issue though with around 40 laps to go. A series of 4 brief cautions would shuffle the field around to the point where fuel was no longer an issue but you know what was an issue for Denny? Track position. Denny Hamlin with 30 to go would restart 15th but 4 laps later he got up to 9th by slicing and dicing his way through the field. After the restart with 21 laps to go it took 9 laps for Denny to put his Toyota back to the lead but as you know it isn't so straight forward most of the time. A caution came out after Harvick and Logono made contact sending the 20 around setting up a green white checkered finish.

Everyone in the big crash are all ok as Denny won his 4th time at Pocono in the 9 starts he has made and 4th race of the season which matched his career high of wins in a season. Now the competition is wondering how long it'll take for Denny to win his 5th race cause when he got the 4 wins in 2009 it took him the whole season and now 2010 it took over a third of the time to win 4 races. At Michigan Hamlin again wasn't that dominant early on but by lap 52 the 11 took charge. However on his green flag pitstop 40 laps later will make him and fans' hearts skip a beat. Just driving out of the pits you could hear the engine in that 11 Toyota not fire well "No fuel pressure!" Denny exclaims on the radio but crew chief Mike Ford calmly says that air must have gotten in the fuel line in during the pitstop. So one heart beat skipping moment later and Denny Hamlin was on the move to eventually retake the lead and he would at lap 114. And besides other green flag pitstops they never looked back. The JGR number 11 FedEx team is officially getting more dangerous by as the season goes on people! Going on making it 5 wins in the last 10 races as Denny Hamlin becomes victorious at Michigan! A dominanting 123 laps lead jumped Denny within 47 points to Kevin Harvick the championsh leader. The road course of Sonoma was next and even though that Hamlin was average at a road course it appeared to only be a matter of time before he would rise as the championship leader. However he would have a hard fall. Sonoma he had a misserable run early on, next he would damage his car against road course master Boris Said forcing him to pit, then his hood literally comes up on the windshield from the damage blinding Hamlin for at least a half a lap, and finally a crash at a restart pit him in a 34th finishing position. New Hampshire would be a disappointing 14th at a place he won at in 2007 and had the feel of a short track which Hamlin is very strong at. After starting in the back at Daytona and leading 4 laps he would get damage from a big crash late in the race he'd finished 24th. All of that would bring him down to 5th 284 points off Harvick the leader. Yet he is 269 points above 13th practically meaning that the chase is all but guaranteed so so now the 11 team ha shall ready themselves in the time remaining to be ready for it to take the fight to the competition when the chase arrives. An 8th place at Chicagoland he gained a spot in the standings and a recovery drive after spending most of the race a lap down after pitting for overheating issues to a 15th place result. The 2nd trip at the tricky triangle had a similar run for the 11, he wasn't as dominant but still was a top 5 runner in the race. Towards the end of the race he would lead 19 laps but lost the lead on pit road and was stabilized in 5th and after restarting 15th again after 2 tires vs 4 tires strategy but no win would be claimed this time but a 5th place finish jumping Denny up to 3rd in points. At Watkins Glen Denny would DNF in 37th after crashing into Jimmie Johnson costing him 3 points positions. Michigan Hamlin bounced back after a call by Mike Ford to take 4 tires on the penultimate stop and staying out the last set of stops placing him 3rd but after getting up to the lead for 12 laps he lost it with 11 to go and finished the runner up. Points wise he is back up to 3rd. Ok, so now inconsistently is beginning for the FedEx team now finishing 34th at Bristol after having a driveshaft problem losing 27 laps. At Atlanta he is gonna have another great run right? Well he led 74 laps but would DNF at lap 143 and finish last from an engine faliure. However afterwards in an interview he would describe as disappointed as he was to blow an engine that the 11 team were showing their hand with having the mindset of being in the chase and beginning that momentum now and not wait till the chase started and know where they stand against the competition. But now being 10th in points despite having his spot in the chase clinched some questions are now being asked about if Denny Hamlin could win the title because in the chase 1 year ago at this point he was 4th and was 2nd after the first race of the chase but bad luck, unreliability, and mistakes pit him back to 5th overall. Could this be 2009 2.0? Or is it Denny's year? Well at Richmond he started 14th but slowly worked his way up to the front and by lap 111 the 11 was in 1st place. Another day in the office for the FedEx Office Toyota rarely giving up the lead since. 11 races after his previous victory he would claim his 6th win of the year leading 251 of 400 laps. Hamlin would say over the radio "I hope you guys are ready for a great 10 weeks." For the first time in his career Denny Hamiln would lead the points giving momentum by winning after finishing off the regular season with a win and now the time has come for The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The 11 car began the race in 22nd position and early on slightly struggled with the handle of his car but eventually was able to gain positions out on the racetrack and some laps was the fastest out there. On a restart with 86 laps to go though Hamlin was 3rd but oh boy things would change after he gets spun around by fellow chaser Carl Edwards. Luckily for Denny no harm was done to his car but he was put all the way back to 22nd. Little did we know it though that it was a blessing in disguise. Obviously after spinning the 11 came for tires and topped off the fuel tank. With another yellow coming out Hamlin along with some others pitted with 74 laps remaining setting themselves up to possibly stretch the fuel all the way to the end. 2 more cautions afterwards made his task a lot easier. Chasers Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart along with non chasers Joey Logono, Sam Hornish Jr, David Reutimann, Jamie McMurray all stayed out trying to keep track position and save gas all at the same time. Hamlin drove up to 3rd behind Bowyer and Stewart as the laps count down how will this play out?

True words from Clint Bowyer's spotter Mike Dillon about never quitting and that's what Hamlin and crew did after getting spun out with 86 laps remember just to use strategy and skill to still get a great finish out of the race. For their efforts they have a 35 point advantage over the 33. That wouldn't last for long however. No, not from Hamlin getting a post race penalty like some might imagine in this scenario but Clint Bowyer actually getting penalized for failing post race inspection. The 33 car's body was 60 thousandths out of NASCAR'S specifications, it might not sound like much but it was enough to cost him 150 points. Bowyer's crew chief Shane Wilson and car chief Chad Hanley were suspended for 6 races each and Wilson was fined $150,000. Now Hamlin's lead over 2nd place is 45 now over Kevin Harvick. But Dover was up next and out of the races left in the season was his worst track. But some questions asked in the media center before first practice was on the headlines.

Well, critical words from the championship leader. Maybe a little too critical as far as RCR is concerned especially Kevin Harvick.

So definitely now has a driver and probably an organization that will not give him a lot of room if they see Denny coming. Despite the controversy the 11 walked away with a 35 point lead once again but this time Jimmie Johnson the 4 time defending champion was man in 2nd. In Kansas Denny would lose the lead after a mediocre 12th place but at one point he was about to go a lap down so it could have been worse. 8 points separates Hamlin from the leader Johnson. California however when the deficit between first and 2nd grew to 36 it would begin to look like it was in the 4 years prior that when the 48 starts to build a lead that it is extremely hard to catch him. Next race will mean that the chase is at the halfway point and we really begin to see who really is going to be a contender for the title. Denny would start 23rd but would have a early scare from having to dodge a spinning car on lap 2. Hamlin would have to restart 36th however from locking up his left front tire from slamming on the brakes. TV is a wonderful thing that these teams use cause they didn't quite know if the 11 flat spotted his tires or not. Denny would show that his car is fast gaining positions and when another relatively quick caution came out 2 tires was the call for gaining track position. Things began to look up on lap 34 while the FedEx Joe Gibbs Toyota was gaining spots Jimmie Johnson spun out on the backstretch. Still with 300 laps to go the points leader worked his way back to the 11 in the top 10 and eventually the top 5. Obviously it was crucial for Hamlin to finish in front of the 48 to gain points on him but 4 time finished 3rd while Hamlin finished 4th now falling to 41 points behind. 5 races to go in the season and next up was one of Denny's best tracks, Martinsville. But the 48 is also very strong there with the top 2 in the championship combined winning the last 8 races at the paper clip. Hamlin however still isn't going to panic just yet after losing points to the 48 in the last 4 races and with the 29 still within a reasonable range behind. The last 4 chase appearances that have been made by the Virginia native he says he has learned a lot and says that his agression has cost him in the past, especially last year. It pushed him into mistakes and he felt like he threw it away and his mission this year is that when there are 3 races remaining when Texas comes around if he and his crew can stay in shouting distance to the 48 that the 11 would step up and REALLY show what they are made off. At Martinsville Denny put his short track skills to good use by putting his car on pole. A great spot to start from when Harvick starts 36th and Johnson is beginning 19th Hamlin says that he is gonna win this race and early on he looked good leading the first 10 laps he fell back like a parachute was on his car. He was 10th by lap 25 and eventually was passer by the 48 and people believed today is a must win or finish ahead of Jimmie Johnson day for Hamlin and he is going in the wrong direction while the points leader is moving forward and so is the 29. A caution pitstop at lap 50 was very welcomed for the 11 who was in 15th place. There appears to be an explanation for the 11 falling so far back, Denny was saying on the radio that he kept getting looser and looser off the longer the run went. Turns out it was abnormal left rear tire buildup that was the cause of the crime. After that the 11 ran back up to the top 5 racing along with Jimmie and Kevin. The race had a lot of cars which dominated like Jeff Gordon, Marcos Ambrose, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Ryan Newman. Late though it was Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick who looked like they would fight for the win. But in the final 98 laps of the race Hamlin had other plans. Hanging out in 3rd just minding his time with the two leaders in sight, when an opening was visible he gets by Burton for 2nd and with 30 laps to go the lead that the 11 hadn't sniffed since lap 10 he gets by the 29. Since then there was no looking back. "We're back baby!" Denny exclaims on the radio after taking the checkered flag 1st for the 4th time at Martinsville and his 15th career win in the 6th race of the chase now is just a simple 6 points behind Johnson. As simple as 6 points are to make up in 4 races there is still one massive obstacle left before we all know who SERIOUSLY is in the championship battle. This is the fastest track on the calendar, has the most unpredictability, and can easily flip the championship picture completely upside down, the most fitting racetrack on a Halloween afternoon, Talladega. You could easily gain all track position in the world with a few laps left in the race and fade back just as fast with the power of having allies or lack thereof in the draft in the restrictor plate races. A strategy commonly used is either running up front or hanging out at the back of the lead pack to avoid a wreck known as "The Big One" the 11 would hang out at the back along with Jimmie Johnson and others. Surviving with all the points you can get is very crucial so after a cycle of green flag pitstops Hamlin worked his way up to the front at lap 48 with some assistance from Sam Hornish Jr to get 5 extra points. So getting that out of the way Denny went to the back of the line again to continue his safe, conservative approach. But one thing that can't happen is you CAN NOT LOOSE THE DRAFT. If you do you are gonna loose a lap very fast with the large pack of cars traveling up to 3 seconds faster than one car alone. And that's what happened to the 11, massive championship implications with now fighting for the free pass to get his lap back which isn't guaranteed. It isn't uncommon to have an extremely long green flag runs, in fact Talladega has had caution free races. Despite the situation Hamlin has not said a single word about it and his team is reamaing relatively calm. A caution did come out with 54 laps to go but unfortunately Denny was still a lap down. The 11 was has speed but there is useless when he is stuck a lap down. 7 laps later Hamlin would get the lucky dog saving his race. Even with it he hung out at the back for a little while longer but not as far as he originally was. Then with about 35 laps to go he would charge his way up through the pack to get a 9th place finish. After the 11 bunch nearly having their worst fears come true on Halloween he might have had a championship saving drive through the field. 3 races to go and 3 drivers are definitely in a league of their own battling for the title. Hendrick Motorsports's Jimmie Johnson leads the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Denny Hamlin by 14 points and Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick is 38 back now. There is not going to be much points racing at all with the 3 best teams and drivers going at it down the home stretch where they will give it their very best. The title trio didn't really qualify well with Hamlin doing the worst out of the 3, 30th. But he would not be there for long. He slowly worked his way up through the field early but his progress was slightly hampered after he was blocked in his pit stall by Scott Speed. Things could be way worse though, oh MAN I'll get to that in a minute. Anyway the 11 worked his way up through the field to eventually get up to his championship rivals. During a cycle of green flag pitstops Hamlin lead a lap getting crucial bonus points. Hamlin eventually had a top 5 caliber car by the 200 lap mark. On this lap a crucial change occurred, and it's not a change you think it is. After the 24 of Jeff Gordon was wrecked out if the race his crew had been called over to the 48 of Jimmie Johnson.......... to start PITTING HIS CAR! Yes, you read that last part correctly. Jimmie Johnson's team has had a rough day in pit road. On the first stop the right rear tire was knocked out of his jackman's hand plus Johnson was too deep in his box so he had to back up to get out making his two tire stop less effective, next after the first green flag stop his team struggled on the right front costing them 9 spots on track and another horrible stop put Jimmie 7 spots further back. In a nutshell in the 7 pitstops the 48 crew has made they lost positions in 4 of them and now Chad Knaus made the decision to change pit crews. Normally if a pit crew change was made it was mid week, not mid race and the morale of everyone in the 48 might have taken a big hit even though it appeared everyone handled the situation well. Anyway even though Hamlin and company didn't pay it any mind the longer the race went on into the evening the faster he got. Denny was up to 2nd place, an opportunity arose from the yellow coming out with 34 laps to go to use his crew to get the lead. He might have left 2nd but would restart 4th behind Tony Stewart and Mark Martin. He did not stay behind them for long after making his move with 29 to go getting to the race lead and he's driving away yet one last caution had to make things interesting. 7th on back pitted for tires so the 11 stayed out, Denny Hamlin said earlier said at Charlotte that he wanted to wait till Texas with 3 races to go in the season to really start going for it and now lies an opportunity to make a championship statement on the final restart of the race.

And just like that getting his 8th win of the season the momentum shifted in the championship battle! For the first time in 5 years Jimmie Johnson didn't have the points lead leaving the 8th race in the chase! And when that happened last it Joe Gibbs Racing went on to win the championship and now current driver Denny Hamlin has a 33 point advantage over Jimmie Johnson. The Mike Ford even said pre-race that they were going to win and Hamlin wanted to either win the race or take the points lead and now they did both. It looked like that the goliath of NASCAR for the last 4 years was beatable, in fact Mike Ford even said on the radio in Hamlin's cool down lap "They're gonna have to beat us now!" But that's not all, days after the race the 11 crew chief made critical comments of the 48 crew. He said that they would constantly make mistakes especially when they put the 11 right beside them. Mike even called Chad's decision to swap the pit crews mid race as "a desperation move" and "it's something Jimmie, Chad and Rick needed to do if they wanted to win a championship because they just took their team out of it." It was crystal clear that Ford now saw he and his whole team as the championship favorites when he ended his interview saying that he's seen them play mind games in the past and claims he's immune, could care less, and be right in their face saying it doesn't matter. Them mind games are real in this chase, first Hamlin criticized RCR for Bowyer failing post race inspection at New Hampshire and now after Texas Ford criticized Chad Knaus for a horrible day on pit road. Going to Phoenix the 11 wanted to keep the momentum up and with a target getting painted on their backs now being the points leader with a strong run. Hamlin would qualify the best out of the title drivers in 17th place. Race day came and Denny just took off. After 7 laps he was 9th, 21 more he was in the top 5, finally after lap 66 he would power his way to the race lead. While that was happening Johnson and Harvick were in the top 5 or 10. As the race played out Denny just flat out dominated eventually getting the bonus points his rivals have not gotten, the man who wanted to be the guy to dethrone Jimmie Johnson appeared to be running away with it doing everything he needs to do. But wait there's more! With 47 laps to go Hamlin for the first time all race long he was passed out on track. That was the least of his concerns though and for the competition. It was fuel mileage that was on the minds of a lot of the competitors. Half the field last pitted with 88 to go while the others waited 10 laps later on another caution. Denny pitted with 88 laps left and the fuel window is 80-85 laps so some fuel management is needed to make it to the checkered flag. Mike Ford however told his driver that he cannot make it to the end, being in fact 12 laps short on gas so Hamlin gets called to pit with 14 laps remaining and comes out in 20th place. Everyone is now on pins and needles as Jimmie Johnson is on the same strategy as Hamlin. Fuel mileage has not been the strong suit for the 48 with 9 times out of 10 backfiring. But they are going to try to make it. If this blows up in Johnson's face than he's pretty much eliminated from the championship fight as close as it has been and Harvick has the most fuel out of ANYBODY so he safe. The laps continue to wind down and some who pitted with 77 to go in fact run out of gas like Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer. Final lap and Johnson is still running under power while Hamlin has gained some places. Juan Pablo  Montoya has ran out of gas, coming to checkered flag we shall know who will have the upper hand in the chase! Johnson makes it on gad finish 5th! Harvick gets a 6th place and Denny Hamlin after dominating this race finished in 12th position after making that last stop! The frustration is real after Hamlin got out of his car, he and his team know they lost a bunch of points to their rivals and Denny's interview showed his disappointment.

Dr Jerry Punch "He comes here and dominates a race leading 190 then climbs out of the car. Denny I know I just cant imagine the emotions you're feeling right now, what are the thoughts?"
Denny "Um yeah it's pretty disappointing we were in a good position there to look pretty good going at into next week
now we gotta just outrace them next week."

Punch "You still have a 15 point lead headed to Homestead you said at the beginning of the chase-
"If we can keep it close going to Homestead as good as this team is there we think we got em."
-now what about next week what is the mindset?"
Hamlin  "I don't know. You know, good cars and all that we had all that today and things didn't work out strategy wise. So uh it's tough to say. It's tough to say what we got to do we did what we had to do today just didn't have it there at the end so yeah it's frustrating. But proud of these guys, we had a car that could win and that's something that I hadn't had here in a long time so proud of this whole FedEx team were just gonna go there next week and try to win that race."

Jerry Punch  "You had lots of power today I heard you and Mike talking on the cooldown lap about the fuel mileage what can you do what can be done to maybe help yourself between now and next week?"

Hamlin  "I'm really not sure we had the best fuel mileage out of everyone every single week so I don't know why it would be worse today. I don't know if we were just trying to be smart and conservative or we really were truly short. We'll have to figure that out and move on. But you know it's tough to not be happy with having a point lead going into the last race but......I was sitting pretty." That sums it up in a nutshell knowing how tight the championship battle has been this year every point matters. At one point the 11 had a 78 point lead, now it's 15. Just like that the momentum in the title fight shifted again this time in Johnson's favor. The determination was just as evident on Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports. Jimmie said these 3 quotes like "We're ready to race for this thing" "I hope the pressure of us being on his heels really works on his mind throughout the course of the week." "I hope he can't sleep all week heading into this race. I hope during the race he heard every little rattle in that car." Oh boy! Things are getting more interesting race by race with 3 drivers going in 1 final race to decide the 2010 champion with mind games in the air. Hamlin out front with a re-energized and determined Jimmie Johnson who bit back after his crew was criticized by his rival now with the whole original crew back together for the season finale and Kevin Harvick who hasn't forgotten the criticism his whole organization was given. Homestead is all that remains, who will win the 2010 championship? It all comes down to this!

Hamlin qualified 37th, Johnson qualified 6th, and Harvick starts 28th. All 3 of them are gaining positions, at lap 24 was a moment that could easily have a factor in crowning the champion.

Later on Hamlin would have to compose himself and fight on because it could have been worse, at least it wasn't 24 laps to go. Unfortunately Hamlin struggled to be in the top 15 while his rivals were up front from the damage. As the race went on the 11 was in a rock and a hard place. As much as they want to fix the car and get back competitive they didn't want to loose whatever track position they had. At about 100 to go was the time to really work on his car and he took off. Hamlin restarted alongside Johnson and worked his way up to 6th, but the 48 would muscle his way back past and the 11 would struggle to stay in the top 10 and to top it all off on the final set of green flag pitstops he would get trapped a lap down and be forced to take the wave around to salvage a 14th place finish in the race and the runner up in the championship 39 behind now 5 time champion Jimmie Johnson. A disappointing end to one of the highlight years of Hamlin's career. But 9 years later he would maintain a very strong carrer as of February 16th 2020 has 37 victories but has not won that first Cup championship. After wanting at this time to be the guy who dethroned Jimmie Johnson and coming up short is definitely a what might have been scenario but as Youtuber "The Iceberg" says it makes many wonder, "What if Hamlin hadn't had a wrong strategy in Phoenix?" What if Mike Ford hadn't poked the bear in Texas?" "Or what of in 2010 Denny Hamlin had captured his missing ring?"