Is Denny Hamlin finally getting back in the game? Still needs to qualify better

 Denny Hamlin: Pre-season title pick, but opened in a slump...then got really hot...then really cold....(Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
 

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   BROOKLYN, Mich.
   After that sizzling stretch of five wins in 10 races, it's been a rather ragged summer for Denny Hamlin.
   And for much of Sunday's Michigan 400 it didn't look like this was going to be any turnaround.
   But then suddenly it was. And Hamlin was finally back in contention for a win.
   Finishing second to surging Kevin Harvick though had Hamlin scratching his head.
   Horsepower, Hamlin frets, may be the difference.
   With NASCAR finally doing an engine dyno test, with 16 teams turning their 400 motors over to the sanctioning body for runs this week on dynos at the Charlotte R&D center, Hamlin may have his answer soon.
   Actually Hamlin here had only to look at his 33rd starting spot for part of the answer.
    "I felt we were better than 33rd," Hamlin said.  "And we were not a 20th-place practice car (as his speeds Friday showed).
    "Those are all about single, one-lap fast speeds.  And I've never really been good at getting overall speed out of the car. 
     "I said last year in Homestead, after we won, that in order to win the chase, we are going to have to qualify better. 
     "Right now we are just struggling so bad with qualifying. 
     "It takes us the entire race to get to the front. 
     "That's going to be a tough road to travel if we're going to try to win the championship."
    And Hamlin had other problems, electrical, Sunday.
    Still, he managed to sneak into the fray at the end. "It was a battle, for sure," Hamlin said of the dicing with Harvick.
    "We are definitely happy with that run. 
    "We are trying all we can to get 10 more bonus points (for winning), but Kevin had a really strong car.  It showed all day. 
    "We just snuck up there. 
     "I knew we had a good car, but we never had really good track position.  We were just hanging around eighth or 10th all day. 
     "I knew the capabilities of the car once we got out front. 
      "Mike Ford (his crew chief) made a great call to stay out there (and not stop for tires at the end, to gain track position)....and luckily it gave me a shot to win it anyway.
    "Win or wreck, that was the only thing I was thinking.  We're in a situation where winning (for the bonus points) is everything (because he's all but locked into the playoffs). 
    "So I tried everything I can, and almost wrecked a couple times.  I could only drive the limits of the car, and that's all we had."
    Harvick can relate. He said he learned by pressing too hard at California back in the spring – and then crashing, and giving a win to Jimmie Johnson – "you can't force winning. You have to be patient."

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    Kevin Harvick (29) and Denny Hamlin, dueling for the lead late in Sunday's Michigan 400 (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)