Phoenix race leaves Hamlin disappointed

Denny Hamlin smiled little as he prepared for the Nextel Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway, and the race itself only left him more upset.

Hamlin, the NASCAR series’ rookie of the year in 2006, is a native of Chesterfield, Va., and he carried a heavy heart to Phoenix in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre. All weekend Hamlin wore a deep burgundy cap with the school’s “VT” logo on the front, and he didn’t hide his desire to win Saturday night’s race on the school’s behalf.

“It was a big week for Virginia,” he said. “Something had to happen up there to kind of lift everyone’s spirits.

“I would have loved to bring that trophy back home,” said Hamlin, 26, and “it would definitely be in Virginia Tech’s hands before the end of the week. But unfortunately it’s not mine, it’s Jeff’s.”

As in Jeff Gordon, who won the Subway Fresh Fit 500 on the one-mile track after Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet was the dominant car early in the 312-lap race.

But Hamlin was slapped with a penalty for speeding on pit road, which sent him to the rear of the field, and then he was stymied by the Car of Tomorrow.

This was the third race for the new car, which NASCAR is phasing into the Cup series over the next three years. NASCAR claims the car is safer and should make for closer racing.

But drivers and crews are struggling to adapt to its different aerodynamics.

“If that was the point of it, to make it more competitive for everyone, the mission failed, in my opinion,” Hamlin said.

His car was strong enough that he should have been able to quickly climb up through the field after his penalty, but passing with the new car was arduous, he said.

Over the next 200 laps, Hamlin clawed his way back to finish third, “but it shouldn’t have taken that long,” he said. “That was just really frustrating.”

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Contract negotiations continue between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the team owned by his stepmother, who inherited the business when Earnhardt’s father died in a crash at the 2001 Daytona 500.

The younger Earnhardt, whose contract expires at the end of this year, has said he wants to obtain a controlling interest in the company from chief executive Teresa Earnhardt to re-sign with Dale Earnhardt Inc.

There have been informal discussions about whether the team might sell a 51% stake or some other amount of ownership to Earnhardt, or create a board of directors that would include the driver, but no common ground has been reached, according to sources familiar with the talks who declined to be more specific.

Earnhardt has a chilly relationship with Teresa Earnhardt and speculation is mounting that if the two can’t reach a pact, NASCAR’s most popular driver might sign with another team.

Earnhardt wants control of DEI “to have a competitive team and win a championship,” said Earnhardt spokesman Mike Davis. But Davis declined to comment on any specifics of the talks. “Absolutely no deal has been made, and until an agreement has been made they will continue to negotiate and do so privately,” he said.

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A souvenir a security threat?

At Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, a sign at Southwest Airlines’ ticket counter warned passengers not to leave the official program for Saturday night’s race in their checked baggage.

The program, issued by Phoenix International Raceway, had to be carried aboard.

Nearby, an official with the Transportation Security Administration said there was something in the glossy, 144-page program that was setting off alarms in the TSA’s luggage-screening machines.

He declined to say what it was, citing security reasons.

james.peltz@latimes.com