Hamlin turns on full-throttle charm

There was palpable tension in the air as a rare hush enveloped the racetrack.

All eyes were focused upon Denny Hamlin, and his black No. 11 FedEx racer.

The 32-year-old NASCAR veteran, by now a 22-time winner on the circuit and the 2010 Sprint Cup Series runner-up, seemed oblivious to the scrutiny. His steely gaze was fixed solely on the long straightaway before him.

His racing rivals seemed less calm, more hyper. One fidgeted as if he might have to go to the bathroom.

And then, in a heartbeat, the cars were hurtling down the track. Hamlin’s shot ahead. There would be no catching him, not on this day.

At long last, Denny Hamlin was a winner in Las Vegas. He said “Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na,” or something to that effect.

When Hamlin held the black No. 11 FedEx racer in the palm of his hand after winning the Pinewood Derby, wagging it back and forth in mock defiance, there were shrieks of delight. And then he had the fifth-graders at Heard Elementary at Nellis Air Force Base in the palm of his hand, too.

(If truth be known, Hamlin’s car had extra graphite on its wheels, to make it roll faster. This is something Kurt Busch’s crew probably should consider before Thursday’s qualifying races at Daytona.)

It was Feb. 12. In a couple of days, Hamlin would be leaving for Daytona, to begin preparing for Sunday’s Daytona 500, the NASCAR Super Bowl. But after the economy dropped like a bad transmission, these races don’t sell out like they used to. So NASCAR sends one of its drivers to help boost ticket sales a couple of weeks before the circus rolls into town.

NASCAR rolls into Las Vegas for the Kobalt Tools 400 from March 8 to 10, and so it was Hamlin who drew the short straw. But not as short as the guy who draws the straw before the race in say, Sparta, Ky., because what is there to do in Sparta, Ky.?

Hamlin had gotten in late the night before, had awakened early to meet the schoolkids. At least he was used to it. It had been 23 days since he had become a father.

His longtime girlfriend, former Charlotte Bobcats cheerleader Jordan Fish, gave birth to a baby girl on Jan. 20. Taylor James Hamlin weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces. (Her father said there was no need to use the weight jacker or lower her rear spoiler, because his little girl was just perfect.)

Plus, Daytona was coming up, where everybody will be racing these new Gen-6 cars, and who knows how they are going to handle in traffic?

So there probably were other places Hamlin would rather have been. But he was great with those fifth-graders. He spent an hour with them, answered all their questions (none of which had to be pre-approved by his people), raced the little wooden FedEx car that Scoutmaster Brad Gilmore had carved for him, teased Shandon Baker about blowing the doors off the little guy’s car called Shoot Da Star, posed for photos with the teachers and the principals and anybody else who asked.

(If by some small chance Bryce Harper’s people are reading, this is how it is done.)

With Hamlin, it was sort of like Aaron Rodgers on career day, except the fifth-graders did not ask him to save their dads hundreds with a discount double check, and Mr. Hubble did not cast aspersions on his sixth-place finish in last year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup.

The Speedway people said Hamlin was just as convivial at a sponsor luncheon (theirs, not his) at Caesars Palace, and at Callaway Golf Center, where he hit golf balls with the media and people on Facebook, stepping aside only when the Speedway people wanted to remind the schoolkids, the media and those on Facebook — and everybody else — that good tickets for NASCAR Weekend still are available, and that they don’t cost an arm and a leg anymore.

But Hamlin was especially charming with those fifth-graders.

Maybe it was because he could look into their eyes and see the future, because now he has a little one at home, and way too soon she’ll be a fifth-grader, too. Maybe she’ll want to race against boys, like Danica Patrick does. If it starts at an early age, Denny Hamlin’s probably gonna make sure she puts extra graphite on the wheels.

“For me, I always have high emotions, low emotions, but it kind of levels all that out,” he said of having become a father. “Everything is in perspective and, I don’t know, it’s just seems like there aren’t any bad days anymore.”

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.