The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series held true to its reputation for action packed racing while taking to the .526-mile Martinsville Speedway Saturday, October 20 for the running of the Kroger 200.

NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Chase for the Championship contender Denny Hamlin piloted the No. 15 Flanders Beef Patties Chevrolet Silverado for Billy Ballew Motorsports and fell victim to the beating and banging that was going on early in the race.  But Hamlin, from nearby Chesterfield, Virginia, was able to battle back from adversity and looked  to have a top -15 finish when on the last lap, the No. 15 Flanders Beef Patties NASCAR Craftsman truck was spun in a multi-truck accident sending him home with a 19th place finish in the 200 lap shoot-out.

Hamlin’s day in his first race of the 2007 season in the Craftsman Truck Series looked promising as the young driver posted the third fastest time on the starting grid for Saturday afternoon’s event posting a time of 19.948 seconds at a speed of 94.927 mph.

Early in the 200 lap race Hamlin radioed in to the crew that he needed to rotate better through the center of the corner, so the No. 15 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team lead by Doug George brought Hamlin down pit road for track bar and wedge adjustments.   While most teams pitting did not put on tires, Hamlin did giving up valuable track position.

Hamlin, determined to get back to the front, posted stellar statistics having seven of the fastest laps of the race also having 20 quality passes improving his position twelve times during the event.

Although the statistics show how fast Hamlin was around the short track, his worst enemy of the day was the heavy traffic with 13 caution periods with 70 laps run under the yellow flag.  Hamlin was right in the mix three-wide racing on the short track with 2008 Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and Billy Ballew Motorsports weekend teammate Kyle Busch.  Hamlin and Busch mirrored each other for a majority of the race both running times faster than the leaders swapping positions.

With the difficulty passing at this short track, Hamlin felt he had burned up some of the truck while trying to get back through the pack after the four tire pit stop, but still ran three wide all the way around the track while in the 8th place position.

The race started to get heated with 30 laps left in the event when back to back cautions were occurring.  Hamlin, three wide, was tapped in the left rear by another truck as they started to wreck behind him forcing Hamlin to give up the seventh place position to go down pit lane for a blown left rear tire dropping him back to the 25th position for the restart on lap 192.

Cautions tend to breed cautions and another one occurred on lap 195.  Hamlin, who slowed for the yellow, was hit from behind tearing up the rear of the Flanders Beef Patties Chevrolet Silverado.  The red flag was thrown for cleanup on the track from the incident with NASCAR warning drivers not to come down pit road.  Many had gone down pit road which gave Hamlin and the Billy Ballew Motorsports team six positions on the restart.

As the green-flag flew for the three lap shoot-out, Hamlin looked to have a solid top-15 finish when aggressive driving again took its toll again catching Hamlin off turn-four headed for the checkered flag sending him home with a disappointing 19th place finish

“Wow, these guys are just crazy out there,” Hamlin said. “Some of these guys just stick in gear and go. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We took tires on our stop losing position and we had to give up the track position after being blowing a left rear tire in three-wide racing. I had to use up a lot of the truck to move back up front.  I had a lot of fun out there until they started to wreck each other all over the place.  I had a great time working with Billy Ballew Motorsports and mixing it up with Kyle (Busch).  We are good friends on and off the track and that was a lot of fun just wished we could have both had better finishes.”

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the running of the EasyCare Vehicle Service Contracts 200 Saturday October, 27.  Atlanta owner Billy Ballew will enter fellow Georgian Shane Sieg in the No. 15 Terry Reid Chevrolet (Cartersville, GA) and Kyle Busch in the No. 51 RedTop Auto Auction (Cartersvile, GA) Chevrolet Silverado NASCAR Craftsman Trucks.

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