WELCOME TO NASCAR 2009 !

EMOTIONAL WIN AT POCONO FOR DENNY HAMLIN

It was a very emotional win for Denny Hamlin at Pocono Raceway Monday, but in the begining he said he would win the race for his Grandmother, who passed away at 91 last week.

He wanted to be with his family during this time and didn't want to be at the track. He remembers his Grandmother wearing #11 socks, holding onto her #11 bear and watching only inches away from her T.V.

When he came to Pocono Raceway he came with a heavy heart, but snapped his 50 race winless streak and won the Pennsylvania 500. He tearfully dedicated his win to his Grandmother, he said after the win, "She understands the competition of the sport and she understands how much she means to me, like today, she's pretty proud."

Denny stated, "We definitely had some angels with us today."

Hamlin had to hold off a hard charging Juan Pablo Montoya in the final laps of the race. But victory would not be denide him.

This was his third win at Pocono in 8 starts, he has also had 3 top 10s in the Gibbs/FedEx #11 car.

Denny won both races at Pocono as a rookie in 2006. This was his first win since March 2008. It has helped to solidify his 5th spot in the Chase, and the only Joe Gibbs driver in the top 12.

Turn 3 turned out to be a disaster for Tony Stewart on the first lap of practice at Pocono he hit the wall and pretty much destroyed his primary car for Sunday's race. This forced the #14 Chevrolet team to pull out their backup car for the race.

This means that Tony will have to go to the back of the field, since qualifing was rained out the starting lineup will be set by owner points, Stewart is the Sprint Cup leader with 192 points ahead of Jimmie Johnson.

Tony being a little discusted with himself stated "I just screwed up," he who was not injured in the crash. "I got in too deep and got loose and couldn't save it."

Back in June the same thing happened to him at the first Pocono race. The race then had the qualifying rained out and he then also had to give up the starting spot and started 43rd in a back up car.

That wasn't all bad news as he went on to win the race, which was his first victory as a team owner, he passed 30 cars in the first 30 laps of the race. So far a driver has won 4 times after starting at the rear of the pack, Tony stands a good chance of making it 5.

Tony stated, "I know we can do it, I tore up a really good race car today."

Stewart has had 2 top 10s, ran 8th at Californis and 3rd at Darlington with the back up car he will be in for the race. So it looks like he hasn't hurt himself to bad, as long as he keeps it off the wall in the race.

I would have to guess that at least 99%, if not 100%, of us would leave our job in a heart beat for $100 million.

But what if you were on the verge of doing something that no one has ever done before and make history doing it, with the possibility that it may never be done again for a long, long time.

That was a question that was asked of Jimmie Johnson on Friday during the rain delay, of course it was just hypothetical, but interesting.

HAt this point he has a very good chance of becoming the first driver to win 4 consecutive Cup Championship titles. This would virtualy guarantee him a place in the "NASCAR Hall Of Fame" and asure his legacy as one of the best drivers of all time.

Would/could he walk away for $100 million? he replied "Man I don't know, that would be a tough one to consider. Thats a lot of dough. Tax free?"

Uncle Sam doesn't get a dime, you get it all.

He replied, "I guess I would have to seriously consider $100 milion tax free."

Yep. You take it all. Uncle Sam doesn't get a dime.

With the price set, would the other drivers pass the hat and collect the money to get the #48 and Jimmie out of the race?

Denny Hamlin stated,"If Jimmie's is not here, I don't consider it a win, you want to know you can beat the best." So I guess Denny Hamlin won't be donating to the cause

So would anyone consier the challenge? Carl Edwards replied, "It would take more than 100 million for me to do it." For Carl and quite a few others $100 million may not sound like that much, as it would be 8-10 years of income for them.

Johnson said he would stick with reality and concentrate on the job at hand, winning a 4th Championship.

Johnson said, "I've got a great drive to succeed, but inside my own head, there are a lot of doubts every time I climb in the race car. As I get older I become more aware of history and more interested in it. So the fact that I could be a part of history in our sport, who wouldn't want that legacy?"

With everything aside, what about that $100 million?

"O.K., we could talk", he chuckled.

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