NASCAR's consulting physician, Dr. Jerry Petty, has given Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin the go-ahead to climb back behind the wheel of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry this weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Hamlin was taken to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Hospital last Sunday after a blown tire sent Hamlin hard into the outside wall.

Hamlin had pushed his No. 11 FedEx Camry to the front of the pack on Lap 99, when seemingly out of no where his right front tire gave out. The car shot up the banking and smacked the outside wall with a vicious force. Track officials quickly made their way to Hamlin's aide, and - quite understandably - the Virginia-native was shaken up. Hamlin was helped to a stretcher before being taken to the infield medical center. After the initial evaluation at the track, the medical team decided to transport Hamlin to the UAB hospital for further evaluation. The driver twelfth in the standings was held overnight for observation and released this past Monday.

"It was definitely the hardest hit I have ever taken in a race car," Hamlin explained. "It was good to get home, get some rest and take it easy this week. I am feeling better everyday and look forward to getting back in the car this weekend.

"I need to thank everyone at Talladega and at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) Hospital, and also Dr. Petty and the NASCAR medical team for taking care of me," Hamlin added. "I really appreciate all they did for me and for putting my health above everything else. Thanks to all of the fans for their concern and, of course, thanks to everyone at JGR and No. 11 team who build really safe cars and that showed last weekend. This sport has made big gains in terms of safety - everything from the cars to the walls and those are big steps in the right direction."

This weekend, Hamlin heads back to a track where he has had mixed results.  In six tries at Lowe?s Motor Speedway, Hamlin has three top-10 finishes. Those promising results are countered by the fact he also has three finishes of 20th or worse, including a 24th-place finish earlier this year in the Coca-Cola 600.

"If you really look at our performances in Charlotte we've almost always been much better than what our finishes show," the 2006 Raybestos Rookie of the Year explained. "In the 600 this year we blew a tire and had to pit on the last lap. A year ago we had transmission problems, had to restart in fourth (gear) and that cost us better finish. We've come a long way with this intermediate program and we can be proud of that because it was where we struggled to find consistency in previous years. We've had top-tens here that could have easily been top-fives but we've also had some bad finishes that were caused by bad luck - those don't tell the story of how well we ran and that's frustrating for the team. We're confident racing at Lowe's and we think out equipment stacks up with anyone out there."

Climbing back behind the wheel after taking a hard lick is never a simple task. Racing at a familiar track, so close to home is something that Hamlin definitely has on his side. There's truly nothing like being able to recover in your own home and not have to worry about the burden of traveling cross country. If Hamlin can put last week behind him and forget about the hit, perhaps he can seal the deal and deliver back-to-back wins for the Joe Gibbs organization.