The driver change planned and practiced by Denny Hamlin and Brian Vickers worked to perfection.
An opportune caution flag flew on Lap 23 of Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Speedway when fluid gushed out of Trevor Bayne’s Ford and oiled the track. Hamlin, Vickers and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing crew were ready.
Recovering from a compression fracture of his first lumbar vertebra sustained during a last-lap crash at Fontana, Calif., in late March, Hamlin received medical clearance to race at
Talladega but planned to exit the car during the first caution.
On Lap 25 he brought the car to pit road where Vickers waited. Hamlin unbuckled his belts, disconnected the radio and popped out of a roof hatch in No. 11 Toyota Camry as
Vickers began to climb in the driver’s-side window.
The crew buckled Vickers in and connected the radio. Vickers exited the pit stall less than a minute after Hamlin got there and had no difficulty staying on the lead lap.
“The exchange went great,” Hamlin said. “Really, that was about as smooth as it’s went for us. Obviously, we’ve had a few repetitions at it. That was about the quickest that I was able to get out so everything went well.
“I had a checklist in the car with things that I needed to do before I got out to switch over for the next driver. Everything really went seamless and painless.”
Unfortunately for Hamlin and Vickers, the afternoon didn’t continue that smoothly. On Lap 43, Vickers was an innocent victim of a 16-car wreck ignited by Kyle Busch’s tap of
Kasey Kahne’s Chevrolet. The Hamlin/Vickers collaboration finished 34th, but by virtue of starting the race, Hamlin scored 10 championship points he otherwise wouldn’t have had.
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