Nashville: Denny Hamlin preview

* Passing up the opportunity for a weekend of rest and relaxation, Denny Hamlin is jumping behind the wheel of the No.32 Dollar General Camry for the Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway. This is the first stand-alone Nationwide Series event of the 2008 season and Hamlin is looking forward to the chance to finally get his hands on the coveted Gibson guitar trophy. This will be Hamlin's second start for Braun Racing but his first race with crew chief Trent Owens. At Daytona, Hamlin ran a third entry with Braun Racing with Todd Lohse calling the shots.

* Denny Hamlin has four starts at Nashville Superspeedway to his credit. In those four races, Hamlin finished in the top-10 all four times, including two top-five finishes. He has also started in the top-10 in all four races including sitting on the pole for the Pepsi 300 in 2006. His average start and average finish at Nashville Superspeedway is 5.8. Hamlin has completed 99.9% of all laps possible, including 120 laps led.

* Nashville Superspeedway is "Hometown" for Dollar General

On February 3, 2008, many Dollar General communities were affected by the deadliest tornado outbreak in the United States in more than 20 years. The tornadoes tore through Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama and Kentucky killing close to 60 people and leaving several others injured and homeless. In an effort to help, Dollar General teamed up with the American Red Cross to help its employees, neighbors and communities. For each donation made from the Dollar General Store Support Center on the sixth to the American Red Cross, Dollar General matched the employee's contribution. In addition, Dollar General pledged $100,000 to the tornado relief fund.

Hamlin on Racing at Nashville Superspeedway "I really like racing at Nashville Superspeedway. I've had some success there, starting on the pole once and finishing top-10 in each of the four races but I'd still really like to get a win there and get my hands on that guitar! Nashville has multiple grooves for racing which makes for a good show for the fans! I haven't raced at Nashville since 2006 so I'm looking forward to getting back there. This will be my first race with Dollar General and we're really excited to have them on board this year! Nashville is near Dollar General's home town so we're planning on giving all the employees something to celebrate this weekend!"

Equipment Information

The No. 32 Dollar General Racing team will compete with chassis 37 in this weekend's Pepsi 300. This is the same chassis Brian Vickers raced at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where he started on the pole and finished 36th due to an accident.

-credit: br