With a commanding victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway to end the 2009 season, Denny Hamlin is at the top of the list as the man most likely to compete with Jimmie Johnson for the top position of the Sprint Cup world.

So far, though, 2010 hasn’t exactly worked out the way Hamlin and crew chief Mike Ford had it planned. Through the first two races of the year, Hamlin has led just seven laps, finishing 17th in the Daytona 500 and 29th in the Auto Club 500. That was most assuredly not what Hamlin and Ford had in mind to start the year off for the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry.

Hamlin and his team will have a chance to get back on track this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, site of Sunday’s third Cup race of the season, the Shelby American.

It could be a challenge, in four previous Cup starts at the 1.5-mile LVMS oval, Hamlin has yet to lead a single lap. His best finish came in 2007, with a third-place run. Last year, he finished 22nd after being involved in two on-track incidents. Needless to say, he
will be looking for a strong run after starting this season behind where he envisioned being at the end of last year.

“Vegas is a place where we have actually run really well in the past and even though last season wasn’t as good, we still feel like we can go there and really challenge for a win,” said Hamlin. “That’s our mentality despite what happened in Daytona and California and it will be for the rest of the season. We know from past experience that it is a very long season and we have some time to work with.”

  

Hamlin said he’s not too worried about his early season struggles, as they’ve sort of become par for the course for the team. “I guess that’s the way it works for us — usually in a bit of a hole coming out of Daytona and then forced to chip away at the points,” said Hamlin. “The result at California didn’t help but we are focused on getting our performance right and we feel like things will fall into place. Hopefully we are getting some our bad luck out of the way early in the season when it can only hurt you so bad. We need that all out of the way by the end of the season.”

Crew chief Ford, who has been with Hamlin for his entire Sprint Cup career is optimistic based on the growth and maturity Hamlin showed in the second half of last season.

“When you first get together, everything seems to go really well,” said Ford. “Then you go through some though times and you’re tested a bit. And we feel like those tough times are behind us and we’re on the same page. Over the last few years, we’ve really grown closer together. I understand him more each year, he understands me. Through last year, it seemed like continuity really is what propelled our car.”

Team President J.D. Gibbs saw it, too.

“The future is exciting for us,” said Gibbs. “So I think really, both those guys work well together. They’re quiet, they’re not going to talk a lot about stuff, they just kind of get it done.”

They’ll definitely try to get it done this week in Las Vegas.

“Vegas is a great location for a race — there is always something to do,” said Hamlin. “The city is welcoming of the sport, we saw that when the banquet moved there last year, and the track is always working hard to bring in fans and improve the racing. They have done a great job with the garage and the infield in making it accessible to the fans. From a racing standpoint, the softer tire has made a big difference. We have more grip and the speeds are up but the racing was as good as it has ever been there. I am excited to get back there and see what they have in store for us this year.”

Speed Tv Contributed to this article.