CHICAGO

Denny Hamlin started his No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota in the 27th position and battled handling conditions through the early going. Crew chief Mike Ford appeared to call for the right adjustments during the first couple of stops however and Hamlin had his No. 11 Camry racing in 18th position when he felt a vibration in one of the tires and had to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 86. The problem with the tire would prove costly, with the 11 team ultimately falling two laps off the pace from the leaders. Hamlin would keep the FedEx Camry on the track when a caution on lap 144 came out to earn one of his laps back. He would race hard on the next green flag run and was nearly set to put himself in the lucky dog position when another caution came out just a bit too early as it turned out on lap 204. Unfortunately as the team continued to fight its way back to the lead lap another tire issue with about 45 laps remaining would dampen those efforts as Hamlin had to bring the car back down pit road to change a flat left front tire. The costly unscheduled stop put him back on the track three laps down in the 33rd position. He would go on to finish a disappointing 31st.

Busch is now ninth in the current NASCAR point standings, 19 points behind the leader, while Hamlin remains 12th and 41 points back.