Denny Hamlin: Keep it on the down low

Denny Hamlin doesn't want to read this.

He's driving for the best team in the NASCAR garage thus far this season, Joe Gibbs Racing, and he's posted a top-6 finish in every one of the last 5 Sprint Cup Series races. He's 4th in the Cup standings -- and he's riding the wave of momentum into his own personal nirvana, Richmond International Raceway, this weekend.

But don't tell him we're writing all this as he readies for the Dan Lowry 400 on Saturday night.

"It's just motivation, when we don't get the press I feel we deserve," Hamlin said on Tuesday. "So I'm fine with it. Write about somebody else, because if you're not writing about us, we're able to stay focused and keep our job at hand. So I'm fine with taking a back seat to those guys and showing up on the race track."

Hamlin's lone win thus far this season came at Martinsville Speedway, where he had extensive experience in Late Model competition before being plucked by Joe Gibbs Racing and put into a Cup ride. But Richmond is just minutes from his hometown of Chesterfield, and winning at the .750-mile D-shaped oval would mean everything to him.

He knows how big it would be, too, having seen teammate Tony Stewart conquer Indianapolis Motor Speedway after years of frustration there in both Indy cars and stock cars.

"Richmond, I mean, that is in the woods of my hometown right there, 15 minutes away," Hamlin said. "And so, yeah, I'm going to have a lot of friends and family out there. So everyone knows that this is my Indy, I guess you could say, as far as Tony's concerned."

Hamlin's been strong at Richmond, despite not winning. He finished 2nd to Dale Earnhardt Jr. in this race 2 years ago, his first Cup start at the track, and has 3 top-10s in his 4 career starts. He's even won the pole once.

But, winning poles and finishing 2nd, as Hamlin will tell you, isn't winning -- though he believes his No. 11 FedEx Toyota team is close.

"I feel shorter tracks are my strong suit anyway," said Hamlin, who is winless in 6 Nationwide Series starts at Richmond, too. "So Richmond, it's definitely going to be a track, hopefully, I will win that. I feel like I will win there eventually, just got to wait on the right time.

"I thought I had it in my rookie year when I was racing Dale Jr. there for the win. That ended up being his last win. We were right there. We had it and lost it at the end. Eventually it's going to happen, just have to be patient and don't let it get to you, because if you let it get to you, it will definitely eat away at you."