Denny Hamlin, still recuperating from his injuries suffered in California, will be racing at Talladega. For a short time that is.
The Virginia native tweeted on Tuesday "can not wait to get back in car.. The smell of fuel and tires Ahhh." Then to clarify he responded to another person on twitter "just to start."
The plan for driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing will be to drop to the rear of the 43-car field and get out of his Toyota right after the first caution. This would entitle him to receive whatever points substitute driver, Brian Vickers, may ear at the Aarons 499 on Sunday.
"They all came to the conclusion they were happy with me starting Talladega and getting out when it's a safe time to get out," Hamlin said at RIR. "So ... we'll start our process at Talladega and then rescan again and try to go to Darlington."
Although getting out of a NASCAR Sprint Cup car requires a bit of a maneuvering, Hamlin said he’s still able to do it reasonably quickly.
"I could do it pretty easy," he said. "Really, I am physically capable of doing the same things other than running. I just can't do that yet. Getting up and down I can do just as easy as I could before the injury. I really only had about a week and a half of severe pain from the actual spine itself."
It’s expected that Hamlin would remain on the scene after that.
UPDATE:
In light of the numerous reports of Denny Hamlin's return to race at Talladega NASCAR has told reporters that Hamlin is not yet cleared to drive this week.
The Virginia native tweeted on Tuesday "can not wait to get back in car.. The smell of fuel and tires Ahhh." Then to clarify he responded to another person on twitter "just to start."
The plan for driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing will be to drop to the rear of the 43-car field and get out of his Toyota right after the first caution. This would entitle him to receive whatever points substitute driver, Brian Vickers, may ear at the Aarons 499 on Sunday.
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| Photo: NASCAR |
"They all came to the conclusion they were happy with me starting Talladega and getting out when it's a safe time to get out," Hamlin said at RIR. "So ... we'll start our process at Talladega and then rescan again and try to go to Darlington."
Although getting out of a NASCAR Sprint Cup car requires a bit of a maneuvering, Hamlin said he’s still able to do it reasonably quickly.
"I could do it pretty easy," he said. "Really, I am physically capable of doing the same things other than running. I just can't do that yet. Getting up and down I can do just as easy as I could before the injury. I really only had about a week and a half of severe pain from the actual spine itself."
It’s expected that Hamlin would remain on the scene after that.
UPDATE:
In light of the numerous reports of Denny Hamlin's return to race at Talladega NASCAR has told reporters that Hamlin is not yet cleared to drive this week.