Catchfence

Gastonia, N.C. (June 7, 2010) It was so important that Denny Hamlin wrote it on the dash of the No. 11 Fed-Ex Freight Toyota.  Just one word not usually associated with the ultra-competitive world of NASCAR racing: conserve.

The strategy worked to perfection.   Hamlin took the lead from Sam Hornish Jr. with 17 laps to go and survived a green-white-checkered restart to win the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch in a race that ended under caution.  The victory was Hamlin’s fourth in nine races at the 2.5-mile speedway and his fourth of the 2010 season.

Cars equipped with WIX Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, have now racked up NINE NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins in 2010 (in addition to winning the Budweiser Shootout and Gatorade Duel special event races) and swept the top four positions at Pocono.

“We just conserved for most of the day,” Hamlin said.  “I wrote it on the dash because I knew I was going to have to use it all at the end.  Races don’t come easy when you run first or third and you get the win at the end. I knew it was going to be important to save everything I could till the very end, and when I needed to get more out of it, I could.  There’s always a wrench that kind of gets thrown in there and messes up your whole plan.”

The “wrench” for Hamlin on Sunday was the overtime finish which added four laps to the original race distance.  He was concerned about having enough fuel to make it to the checkered flag.  Those fears were eased when Kasey Kahne triggered a multi-car accident on the final lap of the race, forcing the event to end under caution.

“It [fuel pressure] was fluctuating on the last lap and I was so scared we weren’t going to make it,” Hamlin said.  “To be honest with you, it’s probably a good thing that there was a big wreck at the end and I had to check up because I’m not sure I would’ve made it to the line.”

Hamlin’s crew chief, Mike Ford, said that the key to winning the race was his driver’s ability to make up ground on restarts late in the race.

“I think the key for us winning that race was two restarts that Denny made when we gave up track position,” Ford said.  “You didn’t want to give up track position, but you needed fuel at some point.  All strategies came into play.  You had different tire strategies, fuel strategies, then you had guys on three different sequences of tires at the end of the day to add for a pretty eventful end to the race.”

Hamlin said he didn’t know his car was going to react in traffic but agreed with the pit call.  He rallied from 15^th on lap 170 of the 204-lap race to take the lead 18 laps later.

“You never know how your car’s going to react back there,” Hamlin said.  “We had to pit when it was our fuel window.  Other guys were going to try to stretch it.  That’s kind of how the game plays.  When you don’t have a winning car, you have to throw caution to the wind.  Those guys were able to do that.  We had to play it safe and race the guys we knew we raced all day and knew we were going to have to race for the finish.

Hamlin earned WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors at Pocono, leading five times for a race-high 88 laps and climbed to third place in the series championship standings, a gain of two positions.  He is 136 points behind leader Kevin Harvick and 117 behind second-place Kyle Busch.  The win was the 12^th for Hamlin in 165 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

Hamlin averaged 136.303 mph in a race that took 3 hours, 44 minutes and 30 seconds to complete.  There were 14 lead changes among seven driers in a race that was slowed by eight cautions for 27 laps.  The start of the race was delayed for two hours by rain.

Since 1939, WIX® Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, has been an innovator in filtration products. WIX designs, manufactures and distributes products for automotive, diesel, agricultural, industrial and specialty filter markets. Its product line includes oil, air, cabin interior, fuel, coolant, transmission and hydraulic filters for automobiles, trucks and off-road equipment. WIX, a member of the Affinia family of brands, is the number one filter in NASCAR and an exclusive NASCAR Performance Product. Its NASCAR relationship also includes the WIX Filters Lap Leader Award, which recognizes the drivers leading the most laps in each race. For more information, visit www.wixfilters.com.

Affinia Group Inc. is an innovative global leader in the design, manufacture, distribution and marketing of industrial grade products and services, including extensive offerings of aftermarket parts for automotive and heavy-duty vehicles. With more than $2 billion in annual revenue, Affinia has operations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and India. For more information, visit www.affiniagroup.com.

*Affinia Group Inc.’s affiliated companies include Brake Parts Inc. WIX Filtration Corp LLC, Affinia Products  Corp LLC and other high quality manufacturers of the Affinia family of brands.

- Camp & Associates, Inc., for WIX Filters, Press Release