NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Denny Hamlin's battle for the 2008 championship took another blow Sunday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway after a hard crash sent sent him to a local hospital for observation.
Hamlin was leading on lap 99 of the 188-lap AMP Energy Drink 500 when his No. 11 cut a tire in turn 2, catapulting his Toyota into the outside wall. He was able to climb from the mangled race car under his own power, but immediately had a seat on a stretcher before being placed in an ambulance.
Hamlin was awake and alert when he was taken to the hospital, and some of his movements indicated that it could be a potential leg injury that caused the trip away from the speedway.
Prior to hitting the wall, Hamlin was leading a resurgence of sorts for Joe Gibbs Racing after pacing nine laps of the event and engineering an all-JGR pack at the front of the field with teammates Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart right behind him.
JGR has gotten off to an absolutely horrendous start in the Chase for the Sprint Cup title run, with each of those three teams filling up the three-lowest spots in the championship standings despite utterly dominating most of the 2008 regular season.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-05-2008 @ 8:08PM
Jerry Clements said...
Our thoughts and best wishes go out to Denny. The importrance of the point standings fade into the background under such circumstances and we pray, not that he'll win the championship, but that he's not seriously injured.
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10-05-2008 @ 8:57PM
ann beard said...
hope everything is good .think about next time.look forward to next week.stay strong...............
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10-05-2008 @ 10:39PM
chery barber said...
Denny, I hope you are okay that was a really bad one. You are a great driver, and It will be great to see you back on the track next week. Best wishes to you.
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10-06-2008 @ 7:51AM
Kim said...
Although not a fan of Hamlin, I don't like to hear about any driver being transported to the hospital. God Speed, Denny. Hopefully all is well.
That being said.....everyone has complained all year about Goodyear tires. During the race, it was amazing to me how many drivers blew tires and the severity of what happened to each as far as damage was concerned once their tires blew. What interests me though is that when Dale Jr.'s tire blew and they interviewed him afterwards, he commented on how obviously Hoosier tires were no better than Goodyear's. That peeked my interest. For some reason, was it just his team that was trying out Hoosier tires or was it the whole field? If so, what happened to the Goodyear monopoly on providing NASCAR drivers/teams their tires? If this is the case and Hoosier Tire did supply the teams/drivers with their tires yesterday, then they proved they are no better than Goodyear. Perhaps it's not the tires at all, perhaps it's the COT?
Does anyone know the answer? Did Hoosier Tires supply the teams/drivers during yesterday's race?
Kim
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10-06-2008 @ 5:22PM
Dan said...
Jr. was talking about the ARCA race on Friday. They use Hoosier tires in that series, and they had the same problems with tires blowing out during that race.
10-06-2008 @ 10:42AM
Pattie said...
Our prayers are with you, Denny. You gave us all a big scare on Sunday. Hope you feel better soon:) My opinion, the Goodyear tires SUCKED at the race in Talladega.
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10-07-2008 @ 1:00PM
Wayne Roder said...
No, Jr. was talking about the Arca race the day before. I guess they ar enot limited to Goodyear. However, NASCAR needs to look into adding some competetion next year. Goodyear has had too many problems with tire on the new car. Drivers are going to start getting hurt if they don't step in.
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10-06-2008 @ 5:15PM
Jules46 said...
Kim - Hoosier supplied the tires the day before in practice, when JR blew a tire and recked during practice.
Jules
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10-07-2008 @ 2:49PM
annaseitter said...
STEWART SPOKE FIRMLY AND BLUNTLY AGAINST GY TIRE
while ago after the indyanapolis race.
He had it done once before too if i remember rightly.
Has the nation of sheep drivers or fans joined in to the cause
and busted goodyear or nazcar about?. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AS USUAL. Only a temporary race fan rage against GY took place after indyanapolis.
Does 42 sheep drivers and many team owners have a mouth?
Apparently they don't. They scare easyer than a sheep or a parakeet. WELL, THERE YOU HAVE IT; THE TIRE PROBLEM STILL THERE AND WILL BE until other drivers learn how and when to bitch about. ONE driver war isn't going to go anywhere.
WE NEED 10 MORE TONY STEWARTS OUT THERE EVERY
WEEK PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CASE CLOSED.
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