Denny Hamlin hopes homecoming at Richmond puts him back in fast lane

RICHMOND, Va. -- Denny Hamlin is free to work in peace this weekend.

There is no doubt work to do, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. provided the perfect diversion. Now Hamlin just has to fend off his teammates.

Any NASCAR visit to Richmond International Raceway brings enough pressure and demands – some internal, some external – for Hamlin, a product of nearby Chesterfield. He considers it his home track.

He’s won at the .75-mile short track three times, including last fall, which constitutes his last victory, 18 races ago. And this season, at 15th in the driver standings and a weighty 176 points behind leader Kyle Larson, Hamlin could use a first victory to all but assure himself a playoff berth and go about amassing points and readying for the final 10 races and a run to a possible first championship.

None of that goes away this weekend. Not for the all-time Cup winner from Virginia, with 29.

But Earnhardt’s announcement Tuesday that he will retire as a Cup driver at the end of this season will suck every bit of oxygen from every other story line this weekend. Earnhardt will learn just how much more frenzied the demands on his time can be when media and fans know his timeline for departure as a driver. And everyone else, particularly Hamlin, can glide happily along in the cool of the long shadow Earnhardt will cast.

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The clear mental playing field might be just what Hamlin needs. Because his acumen and resume at Richmond are well-established. In addition to his victories, Hamlin has produced eight top-5s and 12 top-10s and has the second-best driver rating (109.9) and second-best average finish (10.1). His average running position is 7.8.

“Last time we were at Richmond I ended up in victory lane, so that obviously feels pretty good,” Hamlin said in a release.

Oddly, Hamlin’s aptitude at the place might create more competition from other drivers also in pursuit of a first win. That’s particularly true of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, who dominated the regular season in 2016, winning 11 of 26 races. JGR’s Kyle Busch, who has four wins in 23 Cup starts at Richmond, and was runner-up in 2015 and 2016, said there was a traceable reason for his success here. That also will make teammate Matt Kenseth a risk to Hamlin’s effort this weekend. He’s won twice here, most recently in 2015.

“I think a lot of it comes from Denny, being that it’s his home track,” Busch said. “I’ve been good there in Hendrick and JGR cars. But Denny and I really feed off each other an awful lot at Richmond. We use each other a ton there, just to be sure we can beat the rest of the competition, of course. We do like similar setups there, unlike some other places we run.

“Richmond is one of those places where we both know what it takes to get around and we’re both similar to one another in that we both run well. Matt (Kenseth) has only added to our information there and, with Carl (Edwards) on board the last couple of years, he was a guy who was very good over the years there, as well.”

Perhaps Hamlin should hope Earnhardt can distract them, too.

Follow James on Twitter @brantjames

PHOTOS: IN THE FAST LANE WITH DENNY HAMLIN