<!--break--><!--break--><!--break--><!--break--><p><em>by Matt Taliaferro</em><br />
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Denny Hamlin said the strategy was to keep the points leader in his sights through the first half of the Chase and then turn it on in the second — and he’s done just that, having won two of the previous three heading into the Kobalt Tools 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.<br />
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And Hamlin was within 50 laps of making it three-for-four when the plan hit a snag. That snag came in two forms: Carl Edwards and fuel mileage.<br />
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Edwards, winless since the 2008 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, dueled door-to-door with Hamlin — who had led a race-high 190 laps to that point — for a number of laps before securing the top spot and driving off. That’s when, 40 laps from the finish, Concern No. 2 began creeping onto the radar of Hamlin’s No. 11 pit box.<br />
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The leaders had not hit pit road in nearly 50 laps, and trying to stretch fuel mileage another 40 miles was going to be tight. They needed a caution flag.<br />
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Unfortunately (poetically, almost) for Hamlin, the debris cautions he so vocally decried earlier in the season never came, and with a thin points advantage over seventh-place Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick, who was running 12th, crew chief Mike Ford was forced to play it conservatively.<br />
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Not believing Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota could make it to the checkers, Ford called his driver down pit road with 14 laps remaining. Hamlin emerged 19th and quickly began picking off spots. However, the majority of the leaders rolled the dice, betting they had enough fuel to get them home — and it was a winning gamble.<br />
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Edwards held on for his 17th career Cup win, although Ryan Newman, Joey Logano and Greg Biffle were hot on his tracks until the finish.<br />
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And most notably, just behind them — finishing fifth and sixth, respectively — were Hamlin’s chief rivals, Johnson and Harvick. With Hamlin slicing through the field to finish 12th, his points advantage stands at 15 over Johnson and 46 over Harvick with one race remaining in the 2010 season.<br />
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And one week after Ford had trumpeted his team as the best on the circuit, his driver showed a mix of disappointment, worry and frustration that they couldn’t put a vice lock on the title.</p>
Phlipping for Phuel in Phoenix
