Notes: Hamlin penalized for being aggressive in practice

06.10.2007 03:00 Sport and Travel - Source: USA Today

But Stewart's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, decided he didn't need to practice in the afternoon after being penalized by NASCAR in the morning.

Hamlin was ordered to park for the first 15 minutes of the afternoon session after NASCAR cited him for excessive bump-drafting in the morning. Hamlin, 19th fastest in the morning (193.19), elected to call it a day.

"I was finished there anyway," said Hamlin, currently 12th and last in the Chase standings.

"I think they made a general warning right at the beginning to everyone to stop using the front bumper. After that, I got hit probably 20, 30 times. (I) figured I would just keep doing what I was doing. I guess, right there at the end it was a little excessive … (But) we asked what was the difference in us and everybody else with (their) front and back bumpers beat off. They said we were on TV while we were doing it."

Jeff Gordon's Chevrolet (194.74) and Ken Schrader's Ford (194.51) followed Stewart's Chevrolet with the fastest speeds in the morning session. Paul Menard (193.88) and Kyle Busch (193.85), both in Chevrolets, were the fastest in the afternoon.

Open-wheelers debut

Dario Franchitti, the reigning Indy Car Series and Indianapolis 500 champion, said he gained valuable experience after successfully completing his first stock car race Friday.

So did Formula One driver Scott Speed, who finished seventh in the ARCA/Remax 250 race at Talladega Superspeedway.

"It was a great learning experience," said Franchitti, who came from the rear of the pack to finish 17th in a Dodge prepared by Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. "I completely messed up the first pit stop. … I let the rpm get too low, so the power steering didn't work. The second stop went a little better.

"I'm relieved I didn't do anything stupid … What I learned, I don't think you can put a price on. I'm looking forward to the long game. I'm looking at next year. It's a start. From now until the start of next season will be a very intensive learning period."

Franchitti, who received in-race advice from Ganassi and teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, raced in the top 10 at times.

"We were at the back, forward, the back, forward," he said. "I would have loved to have raced in the top three today. It was in the plan there at the end to go to the front, but we just didn't have it. The car got a little bit tight and I'm just not good enough yet at drafting to get there, I would say."

Speed, running a Red Bull Racing Toyota, also labeled his afternoon a "learning experience."

"I definitely learned a lot, especially about the drafting," he said. "For sure, my strong suit was at the very beginning and the very end of the race when everyone went everywhere. I definitely was able to pick off guys. But when everyone was in a train, I definitely didn't have a good feel of what was better: the outside or the inside. It took me the whole race to figure out that you need to be at the bottom of that track and not go anywhere else. Otherwise you're going backwards. That was the big learning experience.

ARCA series rookie Michael Annett of Des Moines put a Toyota Camry in victory lane for the first time in series history, holding off veteran Frank Kimmel by a half car length at the checkered flag.

Colin Bruan briefly nosed his Roush Fenway Ford in front of Annett, but couldn't maintain his speed on the outside line and fell back to ninth.

Gillett Evernham Motorsports' Erin Crocker finished 18th, good enough to become the first woman to win the Hoosier Tire Superspeedway Challenge (A $62,500 point fund covering races on tracks longer than a mile).

Kimmel captured. his fifth Bill France Triple Crown as the top overall performer at DuQuoin State Fairgrounds (a mile dirt track), Salem Speedway (short track) and Talladega (a superspeedway).

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