Hamilton still in chase for IRL title

Davey Hamilton has been in this position before and the Las Vegas resident is determined not to make the same mistakes.

Hamilton enters the final two races of the Indy Racing League season trailing series leader Kenny Brack by 23 points for the championship. Last year, Hamilton came to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the season finale trailing Tony Stewart by 10 points and finished six points back after an 11th-place showing.

This year, Hamilton said he knows precisely what he has to do in the final two races, beginning with Sunday's Lone Star 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

"Last year was my first year really getting in the points contention and I didn't want to fall out of it so maybe I was a little conservative toward the end," Hamilton said during a test session at LVMS. "The last three or four or five races we had some problems in being conservative, just wanting to be there, to keep finishing and try to win the championship.

"That didn't work so now it's go for it. We're going to go 100 percent and if something happens, that's the way it goes. If we lose this thing, it's not going to be because we didn't go 100 percent.

"I think that's what I've changed more than anything: just stay aggressive and go for the wins and go for the championship."

That conservative approach to last year's title chase led, in part, to Hamilton's departure from A.J. Foyt Enterprises and subsequent comments from Foyt that Hamilton was "too laid back" as a driver.

Hamilton, a successful short-track driver who is searching for his first IRL win, takes exception to that characterization.

"I'm not laid-back as a driver, I win races," Hamilton said.

"That was (Foyt's) opinion and that was fine, I didn't haven't a problem with that. But I think you have to remember who I was driving for: he puts the fear of God into you, so to speak. I just did what I thought was right, I didn't want to tear up his equipment.

"I wanted to do it right, I wanted to learn how to drive Indy cars by not being a crasher and I think he thought that I just didn't gas it hard enough. He's got some gassers now, he's got one guy in the points lead, but he's had a lot of destroyed race cars, too. I try not to do that ... I try to bring the cars home every race."

While he has piloted the Reebok-sponsored Nienhouse Motorsports Dallara/Aurora to seven straight top-10 finishes, including a fourth place in the Indianapolis 500, Hamilton has yet to make that final left-hand turn into victory lane.

That, Hamilton said, must change if he is to capture the IRL championship. Brack, the man who replaced Hamilton in Foyt's stable, has won each of the past three races and holds a 23-point lead over Hamilton.

"I still think that we have to win a race to win the championship," Hamilton said. "If we don't win one, I still hope we win a championship -- I hope I'm wrong on that.

"I know that a win would put us right where we need to be. I think whoever wins the championship is going to have a win and I hope that's us. We have two races left to do it, we've been very close and we know we can do it, it's just a matter of getting all the luck and the breaks."

Luck and breaks aside, Hamilton said he believes he is with a team that can help him accomplish that goal.

"It was a no-win situation (with Foyt) and this is a team effort," Hamilton said.

"Here, I'm part of the team and we make team decisions and it's a complete team effort. I feel comfortable and confident, I feel like no matter what happens, they're behind me and it's not like I'm walking on eggshells."

archive