INDIANAPOLIS – There are days when Denny Hamlin’s back hurts so much he can hardly move. When he wakes up in the morning, it sometimes takes four hours before he can stand up straight and feel stable.
His persistent back pain, caused by bulging discs, only got worse when he fractured a vertebra in the March race at Southern California’s Auto Club Speedway.
He needs surgery to fix the bulging discs, and some observers (including USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Ryan) have called for Hamlin to give up on his longshot Chase hopes and have the procedure done now to make sure he has enough time to heal before 2014.
But Hamlin told USA TODAY Sports on Saturday he plans to “tough it out” for the rest of the year.
“It’s tough because there are no backups in our sport,” he said while relaxing in his motorhome before qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “I’m the face of our team – the (Joe) Gibbs (Racing) team, FedEx, everyone – so you can’t just insert another player for the rest of the year and have no one know the difference. You know, I’ve got to do whatever I’ve got to do to just get through the season, honestly. And then I can figure out what I can do to (feel) better next year.
“But right now, we’re just in a mode of trying to finish races.”
That has been the biggest problem for Hamlin lately. When he returned full time at Darlington in May, Hamlin was optimistic he could still grab one of two wild-card spots for the Chase. At the time, he was 76 points outside the top 20 (which triggers wild-card eligibility).
Top-five finishes at Darlington and Charlotte immediately boosted his hopes. But since blowing at tire at Dover and finishing 34th, Hamlin said, “It’s been all downhill.”
He hasn’t finished in the top 20 in the last five races and has crashed three times in that stretch. Now he’s 25th in the standings – 126 points out of 20th – with seven races remaining before the Chase cutoff.
“We need to get a break from wrecking, and we need to get back on track — at least get competitive to where our teammates are at,” he said. “At this point, right now, I’m just trying to get healthy. I’m just trying to get to where I was at the beginning of the year.”
Staying active, Hamlin said, seems to be his best solution in the meantime. He golfed for five consecutive days at a celebrity tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nev., last week and felt fine with chiropractic work before and after each round.
When he got home and reduced his activity, though, his back stiffened up again.
“It’s taken such a beating here lately,” he said. “I just need a few weeks where I don’t (crash).”
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