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Hamlin: ready to take it to the next level. (LAT photo) » More Photos
HAMLIN STILL HOT Denny Hamlin will be looking to keep his 100 percent Pocono Raceway winning streak intact on Sunday, and if his "Happy Hour" performance is any indication, the sophomore driver just might do it. Hamlin, who last year swept both Pocono NASCAR Nextel Cup races as a rookie, topped the Happy Hour practice charts for Sunday's Pocono 500 with a lap of 165.770 miles per hour in his Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet. Coupled with his second-place qualifying effort on Friday, Hamlin certainly looks as if he's poised to go three-for-three at the venerable 2.5-mile Pennsylvania track.
"I guess you could say that we expect to win and we are starting to feel that way at every race track that we go to now," said Hamlin. "We are running in the top five, top three, really, week in and week out. The Car of Tomorrow, same as the regular car. We are real confident in what we have."
As has been the case for most of the 2007 season, Saturday's Pocono Happy Hour practice was a Chevrolet-dominated affair, with the top seven and eight of the top 10 cars belonging to the Chevy crowd. Second-fastest in Happy Hour was the Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Jeff Burton at 165.706 mph. Burton's teammate, Kevin Harvick was next, followed by Dover winner Martin Truex, Jr. in a Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevy and Jimmie Johnson in the first of the Hendrick Motorsports entries. Tony Stewart, who was fastest in the earlier morning practice session, was sixth, one position ahead of Jeff Gordon. Rounding out the top 10 were Kasey Kahne, the first of the Dodge runners, Dave Blaney in a Toyota and Mark Martin's Chevy.
FIRST-TIME STARTER Chad McCumbee, who's pinch-hitting for Kyle Petty while Petty moves to the TV booth
McCumbee: realistic exectations for his Cup debut. (LAT photo) » More Photos
"A lead-lap finish," said McCumbee when asked what his goal for the Pocono 500 was. "Number-wise it's so hard to tell. If you're on the lead lap you could be 15th or 35th. I think a top 20 or 25 would be really good. That would be something I'd go home and be satisfied with and felt like I really accomplished something. The main thing is I want to get better as the race goes on and I want to get better from where I started out yesterday. If I can improve myself and show some major progression and we can improve the vehicle to do what I need it to do, then I think that's an accomplishment."
McCumbee said that so far he's enjoyed the Nextel Cup experience, especially working with crew chief Billy Wilburn. "I told Bill two things I thought would help in qualifying and he told me two things he thought would help. We threw five things at it and made one last final adjustment we'd both talked about and it made a big difference," said McCumbee. "I'm real happy working with Bill so far. He's an awesome guy, and he's super easy to get along with. He's very accommodating to what I need in the racecar. It's been good so far, and I think the more we get to work together the better that'll be. He's very easy to talk to and I can talk to him about anything. That's pretty important. It's not just something that stays at the track. Even away from the track we'll eat dinner or do what we need to do. Everything has been smooth on that part."
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