Racing Denny Hamlin Will race saturday at lowes

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Bench Warmer
Denny Hamlin will skip Friday night's Nationwide Series event as he continues to recover from a crash last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway that forced him to spend one night in the hospital .And while he considered sitting out Saturday's Sprint Cup race, his participation in the Bank of America 500 is still a go.

"Especially being 12th in points already, we don't have to race," Hamlin said Thursday at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "But I feel like I have an obligation to my sponsors and everyone to come out here and race if I feel up to it. I couldn't stand sitting this race out. I know there are a lot of people who would question that, but if I had any question in my mind about it, I wouldn't do it, because I really have nothing to lose. The most important thing is my long-term health, which is why we're looking at sitting [Friday] night's race out. If I take a hit there, it's going to be hard for them to clear me for Saturday. But I think right now, we're good to go."

Hamlin was leading last weekend's event at Talladega when a blown right-front tire sent him up the banking and hard into the Turn 1 wall. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was transported to the University of Alabama at Birmingham hospital complaining of a headache, and was held for observation overnight. Hamlin said he felt sore and still had a "minor" headache Monday morning. He met with Dr. Jerry Petty, a Charlotte-based neurosurgeon who is a consulting physician to NASCAR, and was cleared to compete this weekend.

"It seems like every day has been a little bit better," Hamlin said. "I've become a little more active every day as well. I went out and I played tennis [Wednesday], just to do things to get my heart rate up and make sure I don't have any headaches or anything. Everything seems to be good. I'm glad every day I feel better, because every day I feel the progression."

Hamlin was evasive when asked if he had suffered a concussion. "Either way, a head injury is a head injury," he said. There is no standby driver on call this weekend, and Hamlin plans to participate in all practice and qualifying sessions associated with the Sprint Cup event. "I think we're going to be OK for Saturday night's race. There's only one way to tell, and that's to get out on the racetrack.

"I worked out this morning and had no issues, no headaches or anything. I think everything's fine. You just feel some effects when you take a lick like that. I talked to Mark Martin, he said he still feels effects from his Nationwide wreck at Kansas. It's just part of the sport. Sometimes you've got to man up and do it. If I feel like I was going to endanger myself or anyone else, I wouldn't do it."

Even so, when Hamlin received a text message from the owners of his regular Nationwide ride offering to let him skip Friday night's race, the driver gladly accepted. Dave Blaney will drive the No. 10 car of Braun Motorsports this weekend instead.

"I got a text from Braun Motorsports, T.J. and Todd Braun, said, 'hey, it's not that important for us if you don't want to run it.' At the time I wasn't really feeling up to it. So I said, 'yeah, why don't you go ahead and schedule somebody else for it,'" Hamlin said. "Talking with Dr. Petty and whatnot, he recommended that I not run it, because if for some reason I have another freak accident, as we saw with Tony Stewart here, he had a Nationwide incident, and then he had a Cup one, and it really hurt him. Any extra day I can have to rest and get better would be better off. I had nothing to lose, really."
 
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