When Denny Hamlin Shocked The World

in the 70 plus year history of NASCAR it has been infamous for its famous upset winners these upsets mostly take place on super speedway tracks such as Daytona and Talladega with the engine restrictions and the way these drivers utilize the draft at these super speedways that is why these upsets are most common one of the most forgotten upsets in NASCAR history took place in the 2006 Budweiser Shootout pre-race favourites such as Tony Stewart Dale Earnhardt jr. Jeff Gordon Elliott Sadler in the background and Michael Waltrip would have to take a back seat to the kid my first bud poll in my six start at Phoenix International Raceway the newest driver of the number 11 FedEx Chevy would roll off the grid 15th before we get any further into this race we need to take a quick look back on what got us to this point 2005 was the dawn of a new era over at Joe Gibbs Racing the team officially launched its third car the FedEx Chevy with Jason Leffler ready to roll as its debut driver initial high expectations for this third team eventually turned into disappointment they could barely stay inside the top 35 and owners points as Dean cues and DNX became the new norm unable to show the slightest improvement towards the end of the season Jason Leffler was eventually let go small stints from Terry Labonte and JJ Yeley came soon after and the search for a new full-time driver entering 2006 began rumor started going around that the team was interested in its pipeline drivers in both JJ Yeley and Denny Hamlin the way JD Gibbs eventually narrowed down the decision Denny Hamlin would take over full-time in 2006 he showed promise towards the end of 2005 after making the final seven starts of the season his highlight from those seven races was winning his first career pole at Phoenix qualifying into the 2006 the potential was already beginning to show at both Kansas and Phoenix he would lead to combined 24 laps and run most of those races inside the top ten in his combined seven starts he would score an impressive average finish of 17.1 along with three top-10 finishes at Charlotte Martinsville and Texas with the 2006 season getting ready to start Hamlin had a unique opportunity to try and show out for his new team a win in the Budweiser Shootout would be a huge morale boost for a team that went through hard times but as you can see in the top left corner that was going to be a challenge because Hamlin had to start all the way back in 15th mired back in traffic Denny Hamlin was able to make his way all the way inside the top ten with around six laps to go in stage one he avoided the first caution of the race and was able to finish the first stage in eighth where you finished in stage one was where you would restart for the final stage of the shootout so Hamlin would finally get some lead pack action the initial restart was a bit chaotic Hamlin was trying to get by McMurray to stay inside the top ten but was forced below the yellow line he was eventually able to find his place within the pack as he was running mostly in the middle to begin stage two he was showing a super speedway racers true patience because three laps later somehow someway he was able to find his way inside the top five and pass Michael Waltrip for second with no pre-race mentions Denny Hamlin is shocking the NASCAR world eventually Hamlin got passed again but the big picture is simple with 30 laps to go the rookie Denny Hamlin making his first Cup Series start at Daytona has a good shot at getting his first win just in the nick of time his new Cup Series teammate the defending NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion Tony Stewart was finally able to work with him he pushed Hamlin to second but in the process also got bumped back to fourth eventually Stewart got around Hamlin and with 23 laps to go the two decided it was time to make their final pit stop the FedEx crew came in clutch when they needed to they were able to get Hamlin first off of pit road and once green flag pit stops cycled through with 18 laps to Denny Hamlin was sitting in p1 again let me remind you not a single mention during pre-race not a single interview with that said driver and the only rookie inside the field is showing out however the race was far from over it was coming down to the wire with around 15 laps to go when a huge pack began to form drivers such as Tony Stewart Ryan Newman Dale Earnhardt jr. Mark Martin Scott Riggs Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth were beginning to emerge as late race favorite with around 12 laps to go you saw new drivers emerging as well from the likes of Jamie McMurray and Kyle Busch Hamlin was starting to get some wide open space but at plate tracks such as Daytona that's not necessarily the best thing Newman and jr. were beginning to form a line and getting a huge run off of Hamlin's back bumper within 10 laps to go Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman began to make their moves as well as Michael Waltrip Hamlin had no choice but to start mirror driving he was switching up his lanes going from the high side to the low side would be in the middle sometimes but with eight laps to go it started to get chaotic Ryan Newman and Kyle Busch had a huge run up on him the Newman was beginning to make his move sending it three wide the courageous yet chaotic moves soon backfired Ryan Newman had minimal help inside the middle lane while Kyle Busch straight-up fell like a rock on the outside soon after that move Tony Stewart would shoot around in the middle all the way back to the inside lane right in front of Dale jr. the Joe Gibbs teammates were paired up once again on the inside with eight laps to go Kyle Busch and Michael Waltrip do whatever they can to try and make the outside lane savage able initially it ends up working Busch is able to beat him towards the line with seven laps to go but it's soon after the outside lane began to break up Stewart wasn't gonna bail on his teammate just yet him and Dale jr. were able to make the inside work and stick with Hamlin Kyle Busch does whatever he can to use the side draft to break up the inside line it doesn't end up working he ends up backing up Michael Waltrip and Jimmie Johnson do whatever they can to try and make the outside lane work that doesn't end up working and with seven laps to go the inside lane is the to be until it's not eventually Stewart switched up on his teammate right away and with four laps to go was able to take the lead before the final caution of the race came out the final restart of the Budweiser Shootout is going to be hectic Hamlin will restart in p2 on the outside line the rookie who was brought in to bring life into this dysfunctional team was able to do that exact thing in race one good move Denny Hamlin now can tell me store to the 11 in the 48 get some help from Mark Martin to get in front last lap in the Budweiser Shootout [Music] but the winning car is just beating up on the bumper of that 11 car Denny Hamlin but that's why look what you can do look what a difference it made Wally to hardly control by the 48 [Music] only four times has a first-time starter in this race gone to Victory Lane in 1996 here comes Junior on the outside on the last lap yet enough off the final turn in the Budweiser Shootout the season starts with fireworks Danny Hamman the rookie Briggs the Budweiser Shootout and second was Tory Stewart one says Stewart and one says Earnhardt jr. that's how ruddy earns respect at Daytona and tremendous credit to Tony Stewart who helped his teammate that is unbelievable [Music] you can't get that window net down faster than hard you do with a way [Music] jimmie johnson congratulating the best-case-scenario happened for this driver and team in their first race out with his parents in attendance Denny Hamlin won the 2006 Budweiser Shootout I guess you could say this win is a bit forgotten in his career just because he's accomplished so much he went up to this point people may not even consider this an upset anymore because of how many times he's won well I'm here to tell you this is still within my top ten upsets all-time in NASCAR this is a win at the time nobody saw it coming and nobody could tell how much success Hamlin would eventually have we had no idea whether he would actually be any good be eventually a champion or would even win another race or would he become just another bus it's safe to say it's panned out and ever since this monumental win Denny Hamlin has not looked back and once again that'll do it for another video thank you guys so much for watching this is black Pines matter catch you next time

Channel: Black Flags Matter

Views: 183,681

Keywords: nascar, racing, motorsports, sports, sport, denny hamlin, denny hamlin wins, 2006 nascar nextel cup series, 2006 budweiser shootout, auto racing, nascar racing, stock cars, stock car racing, black flags matter, nascar black flags matter, nascar topics, nascar youtube, nascar videos, racing history, racing videos, nascar youtubers, nascar upsets, nascar upset winners, nascar upset wins, shock the world, shocked the world

Id: uZ6BXWjGSCQ

Length: 9min 35sec (575 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 08 2020