Sunday Race Info
Race: Food City Dirt Race
Date/Time: Sunday, April 9 / 7 p.m. ET
Distance: 250 laps / 125 miles
Track Length: 0.533 miles
Express Notes
Press Kit: Download the 2023 FedEx Racing press materials at www.fedex.com/en-us/racing/press-kit, including bios for Denny Hamlin, Chris Gabehart and Joe Gibbs Racing leadership, program highlights and statistics.
Richmond Recap: The No. 11 team finished 20th in last Sunday’s race at Richmond Raceway after an up-and-down afternoon at Hamlin’s home track. During an early competition caution, Hamlin was penalized for speeding on pit road and forced to restart 35th on lap 39. He made his way back up to 17th by the end of stage one. In stage two, he used a nifty pit strategy from crew chief Chris Gabehart to have fresher tires than the other leaders as he battled his way to his first stage victory of the season. He continued to lead early in the final segment until a miscue on a lap-293 pit stop dropped Hamlin from the lead to 11th before another caution on lap 306. Hamlin was scored 13th when a late-race caution brought everyone back to pit road on lap 375. While on pit road, he was penalized for speeding again and had to restart 23rd with 21 laps remaining. Hamlin ultimately ended the day with a 20th-place result.
Bristol Notes: Hamlin has seen mixed results in two starts on dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway. In the inaugural race, he ran solidly up front throughout the race before finishing third. Last season, he started 34th and finished 35th after suffering an engine failure because of an overheating issue early in the race. On Bristol’s traditional concrete layout, Hamlin is a two-time winner with nine top-five finishes, 16 top-10s, four pole awards, and 894 laps led.
Loop Data: According to Loop Data provided by NASCAR, Hamlin leads all drivers with 700 quality passes, 1,523 laps run inside the top 15 and 1,722 of 1,735 laps run on the lead lap so far this season. He also ranks in the top five in multiple categories, including average running position (third), green flag speed (fourth), laps led (fifth), driver rating (fifth), fastest laps run (fifth), and fastest drivers late in a run (fifth).
Hamlin Statistics
Track: Bristol Motor Speedway (Dirt)
Races: 2
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Top-5: 1
Top-10: 1
Laps Led: 1
Avg. Start: 18.0
Avg. Finish: 19.0
Hamlin Conversation – Bristol (Dirt)
What are your thoughts on the Bristol dirt race?
“I enjoy the dirt race, I really do. Last year was a bit of a disaster for us. We had overheating problems and eventually blew up because we had some issues with our cooling, but I am looking forward to this weekend. I thought last year’s race was super exciting with Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick battling for the lead, then Kyle Busch ended up getting the win. But man, once they just let it go and they’re done watering it, the track slicks off where it is multiple grooves and it’s a lot of fun.”
FedEx Ground Along for the Ride at Bristol Motor Speedway: For Sunday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry TRD will feature DSRT on the b-post to recognize the FedEx Ground Desert district for leading the company in safety priority metrics.
JGR PR
