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Denny Hamlin climbs out of his car in Victory Lane and waves to the crowd at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond on Monday.
Fred adams/for the times leader
His first big win of the NASCAR racing season was achieved as Denny Hamlin suffered through such a great personal loss.
So pulling into Victory Lane at Pocono Raceway didn’t even seem like much of a victory for him.
Until he looked up to the heavens.
That’s where Hamlin found enough strength to get him through a long, rough weekend at Pocono Raceway.
That’s where he believes his grandmother’s gone.
Thelma Clark, the 91-year-old mother of Hamlin’s mother, passed away early Friday – the same day qualifying was rained out at Pocono.
Hamlin didn’t even want to be around the track, he was so stricken with grief.
But he soldiered on, finding his motivation to race from his grandmother’s memory.
“She couldn’t hear very well, couldn’t see very well,” Hamlin said. “She had a FedEx number 11 bear, she always wore her number 11 socks. She always told me she’d put out a prayer to St. Jude for us (on race weekend). She was a big fan of mine.”
And if she couldn’t be around to provide such support from her Florida home anymore, Hamlin was sure his grandmother was with him Monday in spirit.
He said he could sense it.
That’s why Hamlin boldly predicted he believed he could win the Pennsylania 500 during a Friday press conference, even though he was battling a 50-race personal winless streak and even in a car that his own team didn’t believe was superior.
“I felt like this weekend I was going to have help in a lot of different places,” Hamlin said. “I said in my mind I wasn’t going to settle for anything less than a win.”
Whatever it took, he was going to ride into Victory Lane with his grandmother’s memory on his shoulder.
“When we picked him up six years ago, his grandmother was his number one fan,” said J.D. Gibbs, the president of Joe Gibbs Racing who was concerned about Hamlin’s ability to focus while dealing with personal grief. “When it’s an emotional deal, that could take you one of two ways.”
It took Hamlin straight to front of the field Monday.
And he swears he had a whole bunch of help from above in getting there.
Sunday’s scheduled start was postponed a day by rain, giving Hamlin more time to gather his thoughts. Then he watched Jimmie Johnson, his main rival for the lead, get slowed by engine trouble. And during a crash-filled race that brought 49 laps of caution, Hamlin survived a bunch of near-misses.
“Many, many times, I nearly wrecked,” Hamlin said. “I almost wrecked trying to get beside the 33 (Clint Boyer’s car) with 10 laps to go.”
With 25 laps remaining, Hamlin wrecked David Reutimann’s day by driving right through him and triggering a spinning crash that Hamlin rode away from.
That wasn’t Hamlin’s typical play-it-safe style. But this wasn’t a normal race for him.
“I’m racing for a win on a particular weekend where it means more than any other weekend,” Hamlin said.
It meant so much more than finding his first win of the season and breaking a 50-race jinx. It meant a tearful celebration when Hamlin finally emerged from his No. 11 car with a half-hearted pump of his fist when his heart was obviously with his family.
“Only half of me was driving the car most of the time,” Hamlin said. “Definitely had some angels with us today.”