NASCAR (TEXAS) - Lighten Up: Slimmed-Down Hamlin Gains Crucial Perspective

Denny Hamlin late during the 2006 season at 195 pounds (left). A slimmer Hamlin is all smiles this season at 170 pounds (right).

During the final month of the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season, Denny Hamlin felt like a sausage stuffed in a straw when he entered and exited his No. 11 FedEx Chevrolet.

As the first rookie competing in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, Hamlin would finish third in the final standings and later nab series Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors during the annual Champions Week celebration in New York City.

But his diet and dinner-plate compositions were anything but storybook.

Looming large at age 26 – a heftiest-ever195 pounds – Hamlin knew it was time for a personal tune-up. Once clear of post-season obligations, he decided to, “Lose the fat,” and embark on a workout regime. By enacting his New Year’s resolution a month early, Hamlin did something active every day through December and January.

Once the ’07 season began in February, he trimmed workouts back to four days a week, trimming his mid-section along the way.

Nearly a year later, Hamlin weighs a svelte 170 pounds. He no longer gasps as he wrenches in and out of his car, and the strenuousness of driving no longer lays him low.

“I was really having to take two days after races to recover and now the next day, I’m really pretty much fine by mid-day Monday,” Hamlin says, cautioning that his hard-won fitness hasn’t waved any magic wands.

“I can’t really say it enhances my performance by any means,” he says, “but I think it helps with your focus and toward the end of the races. And when you become dehydrated and fatigued, you don’t think as straight as you normally would.”

The rigors of travel and at-track schedules still limit Hamlin’s food and workout options, but wiser choices and a more judicious use of at-home time have kept him from re-tipping the scales during the ’07 season.

If he’s at home in North Carolina, he’s running, playing basketball and lifting weights. On the road, sometimes pushups in the motor coach and fresh fruit for dinner are all he can manage.

But he’ll be darned if he’ll scarf down too much junk food or laze around.

“It’s just amazing to me how guilty I feel if I skip or if I miss something,” Hamlin says.

He’s quick to credit personal trainer Alex Reynolds, who charted his initial workout path and still serves as his at-home motivator/cattle prod.

“I could do the workouts on my own now,” Hamlin says. “I know my regimen. But he definitely motivates me. He shows up at 10 a.m. every day and gets me going. I feel like if I didn’t have him, then I would procrastinate, and I feel I would get the workout done, but it probably would be later in the afternoon or maybe at night.

“Doing it in the morning really helps start my day in the right way.”

Hamlin’s now cheering on JGR teammates Aric Almirola and Joey Logano, who currently are under Reynolds’ tutelage. He continues down his own physical path, admitting a summer burnout period and an early-fall rededication that got him back on the treadmill and in the workout groove.

Whittling overall body fat from 23 to 14 percent remains a constant reminder of Hamlin’s progress, and how much he must continue to maintain. No strict by-the-ounces eating for him; instead, he uses taste buds as a guide.

“I like to do deli sandwiches for lunch,” he says. “And for dinner I don’t really have a specific diet. I said when this started, I’m willing to work a little harder in the gym to eat what I want to eat. I’m not going to torture my whole life to be in good physical shape.”

Two significant changes: No more sodas or midnight snacks. Hamlin admits his worst food habit – other than soda-guzzling – was eating late at night. The culprit usually was a bowl of cereal followed by a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, stick-to-your-ribs fare that definitely stuck to his. Now, Hamlin tries not to eat past 7:30 p.m.

“I’m definitely not a calorie-counter, by any means,” he says. “I snack on a few things during the day.”

Usually it’s fruit, protein bars and the rare diet soda. And he relishes gym time, proud he now can attack a shoulder complex with dumbbell routines – once his most dreaded repetitions. If race-weekend schedules rob him of workout time, he’ll do five sets of pushups and sit-ups – 30 reps each – before he retires at night.

“I’m definitely noticing a huge difference here lately more so than earlier in the year,” Hamlin says

All the personal dedication has bolstered him professionally during a challenging sophomore season. Again a Chase participant – this time a whittled-down version of the quiet, young Virginian who earned his way by wheeling the heck out of race cars – Hamlin has dealt with on-track adversity this season, both peaks-and-valleys finishes, and more frustration than in ‘06.

“We’ve never really struggled like we have this year,” Hamlin says. “But we’ve performed better. Which is a weird kind of balance. Last year we would always finish better than what we ran all day. And this year, it’s like we’re finishing worse than what we run all day.”

Growth situations, all – from team dynamics to individual reactions. Hamlin says he’s learned much about himself in ’07, sometimes the hard way. But he’s digesting those lessons along with his healthier lifestyle.

“The biggest thing is learning how to handle the bad times,” he says. “I’m as competitive as anyone and I definitely get down on myself at times when things don’t go well because I’ve never gone through any kind of series where I wasn’t able to win at will.

“The Cup Series is so competitive, this is tough for me not to get wins like I’ve had in the past. So really, I’ve had to learn not to be such a sore loser and find happiness in other ways than just winning.”

Here’s why the adjustment has ouched, at times: A Virginia native, Hamlin is the product of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, winning nearly 50 races from 2000 through ’04 at local southeastern short tracks.

Backed first by his parents’ team, then Jim Dean Motorsports, Hamlin won at least six tracks – including traditional venues like Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway and South Boston (Va.) Speedway – during that period, something he remains thankful for.

The 2003 track champion at Southern National Speedway, Hamlin caught the eye of JGR president J.D. Gibbs and his future spotter, Curtis Markham, during a ’03 tryout at Hickory.

According to Hamlin, JGR was considering starting a late-model developmental team and wanted to use Jim Dean Motorsports’ equipment. Hamlin and teammate Mark McFarland were invited to shake down cars for the tryout drivers.

“J.D. just happened to be there and was like, ‘Okay, maybe we can use him,’ not saying it to me,” Hamlin says. “But at the end of the test, I asked him, ‘Do you have any test driver spots available?’

“He said, ‘Actually, we might have something for you, so we might call you in two weeks and let you know.’ So they did call me in two weeks and that’s when they signed me under that developmental deal.”

Which lead to an audition in an NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series truck later that year and a ‘04 NASCAR Busch Series race audition at Darlington Raceway that catapulted Hamlin into a full-time NASCAR Busch Series ride for JGR in ’05.

Late in ’05, after then-No. 11 driver Jason Leffler and JGR parted ways, Hamlin found himself finishing the season in the No. 11 and his NASCAR Busch Series seat.

“I literally read on NASCAR.COM that I was going to be driving that car for the remainder of the season,” he says, with a laugh.

Back to ’07, where tougher times have bonded the No. 11 driver, crew chief Mike Ford and their crew. Considered an odd couple in ’06 – the young phenom paired with the veteran pit boss – Hamlin and Ford are pulling harder and better together in the same yoke, according to the driver.

“I think this year we’re definitely more critical of each other a lot like Tony (Stewart) and Zippy (crew chief Greg Zipadelli) are,” Hamlin says. “They’ll tell each other what they think right off the bat and I really was kind of (hesitant) to do that last year and Mike, I think, was a little bit reserved.”

Relationship evolution works; driver and crew chief have been at their best together during the season’s roughest stretches.

“If I could accomplish just half of what he’s accomplished as a crew chief, then I’d be very happy,” Hamlin says of Ford, adding, “He can read between the lines where a lot of people can’t.”

As for their surrounding cast, “I am definitely excited about keep that same bunch for years and years to come.”

Longevity is difficult in today’s ultra-competitive NASCAR NEXTEL Cup world, but Hamlin’s happy his crew has chosen to live and grow with him. They remain the original core group from the No. 11’s inception.

“A whole race team that stays intact from one year to the next is almost impossible,” Hamlin says. “But the 11 team has found a way to do it and I think a lot of it is just the camaraderie between us all.”

One of his more pleasant dilemmas this season has been restocking his closet. When Hamlin donned a suit to participate in the annual Chase Media Day in New York in September, he realized emergency purchases were forthcoming.

“I’d spent boo-coos of money on these all-new, very nice suits and now I can’t wear them,” Hamlin says, a bit rueful. “And my tailor’s gotten to a point where we just can’t make them any smaller. They’ve taken so much out that they just don’t look good any more.”

Chalk it up to nearly six inches removed from his waist and transferred to his shoulders.

My mom, of course – she’s always the pessimist,” Hamlin says, fondly mimicking his mother. “ ‘Well, you might want to keep them in case you ever go back to that.’ ”

Not happening.

“I’ve got plenty of friends and family that’ll get a lot of good use out of them,” he says of the suits.