Rookie Hamlin Earns Shootout Crown
Written by John Davison · February 12, 2006
Rookie of the Year candidate Denny Hamlin, driving the No. 11 car for Joe Gibbs Racing, earned the respect and envy of 20 of his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup competitors in the rain-delayed 2006 Budweiser Shootout by beating them all to the finish. Hamlin used a push from teammate Tony Stewart to move ahead to a car-length lead at the finish of the special race for pole winners and previous winners of the event.
Two-time winner of the event Ken Schrader led the pack to the green flag and held the lead until a caution for a six-car crash on the back straight ended the first 20 laps under yellow.
Ken Schrader managed to hold off all challengers for the first segment of the Budweiser Shootout until the restart following the break. Jimmie Johnson towed Tony Stewart and Mark Martin around into the lead on the restart. Kyle Busch tried to get around Martin low on the banking, forced Martin high and into Jamie McMurray, who scraped along the wall. In trying to avoid the near-incident, Jeff Gordon ran into the back of Matt Kenseth’s car, breaking the oil cooler on the No. 24 Chevy and ending Gordon’s hunt for the Bud Shootout prize.
Rookie Denny Hamlin showed the field, and especially Ryan Newman, his yellow rookie stripes, leading 11 laps until Kyle Busch got by him for an instant at Start/Finish on lap 64 but Hamlin’s teammate, Tony Stewart, helped Hamlin draft back to the lead. Hamlin edged out to a six-length lead while the rest of the pack battled side-by-side until Tony Stewart got a ‘push’ from one of the other Chevrolets and into the lead.
Two laps from the finish and the race went under yellow for debris on the track from Jamie McMurray and Ryan Newman hitting the wall in Turn Four. The top six cars all stayed on the track while everyone behind them pitted for tires. On the restart, two laps remained to run with teammates sharing the front row. Dale Earnhardt Jr followed Stewart and Jimmie Johnson followed Hamlin on the restart, pushing him into the lead. Hamlin ducked inside and Johnson moved to the high side of the track but Stewart slam-drafted his fellow Gibbs driver into the lead starting the last lap while Earnhardt and Stewart crossed under the checkers literally side-by-side, far closer than the reported .092sec gap between them with Earnhardt getting the nod for second.
Fourth went to Scott Riggs with Jimmie Johnson taking fifth, a whisker ahead of Matt Kenseth. Mark Martin finished seventh, ahead of Jamie McMurray, Joe Nemechek and Dale Jarrett rounded out the top ten, followed by Michael Waltrip, Bill Elliott, Elliott Sadler, Ken Schrader, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards the last cars running.
Edwards received multiple penalties for passing below the yellow line, one forced when he came up on cars slowing to enter the pits and swerved left to avoid them.
Not running a the finish, with collision damage and engine woes, were Newman, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Brian Vickers.
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3 Responses to “Rookie Hamlin Earns Shootout Crown”
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Anyone catch Tony Stewart’s comments after the race? Something to the effect that someone is going to lose their life here, referring to the general roughness of the race.
I’ll post some links tomorrow if any media has the courage to print his quotes. Junior had a similar comment.
Link to comments by Tony Stewart after today’s Shootout. Despite NASCAR’s proclaimed concern, I can’t see any changes coming this year, or anytime soon; unless they build fragile bumpers on the new Car of Tomorrow. Judging from what I’ve seen of the new cars they look built to take harder hits, if anything!
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/nascar/22026/
can anyone tell me the where Hamlin started the second segment of the Shootout?