playing basketball, Hamlin was scheduled to play in a skills competition at a Charlotte Bobcats home game. Michael Waltrip and Brad Keslowski were among the NASCAR stars that did participate in the event in Charlotte. In an interview discussing the ACL injury and and his disappointment of missing the skills competition, Hamlin jokes that he had a good chance of winning the event. To see the you tube video of the full interview look here.
The injury will affect Hamlin's ability to get in and out of the his car quickly and will hinder him at race courses where there will be a lot of braking, such as Martinsville. Aside from the injury, Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs owned #11 Fed Ex Toyota team, are an early favorite to win the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship. Hamlin ended 2009 with a victory in the NASCAR finale at Homestead and he is looking to build on that success for 2010.
The torn ACL will not be operated on until next November when the season ends but Hamlin has already had surgery in December for an unrelated injury. Hamlin had to surgically repair the meniscus on his right knee, the operation was performed on December 16.Hamlin has been living in the shadow of #18 M & M's sponsored driver, Kyle Busch, his fellow Gibbs teammate and now Joey Logano, the young phenom that replaced Tony Stewart in the #20 Home Depot car. Hamlin has become accustomed to playing third fiddle on his talented team but made some waves in 2009 and some enemies.
Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Denny Hamlin and Brad Keslowski had a serious rivalry most of the season. Each driver wrecking the other on several occasions and taking any opportunity to make the others life miserable. This year Keslowski has left Dale Earnhardt Jr's, JR Motorsports NASCAR Nationwide team and will race in NASCAR Sprint Cup for the 2010 season under the Penske Racing banner. It will be interesting to see if there is any carry over of bad blood between the two in 2010.HJF54S2X8PX8