Denny Hamlin plans on running in the Coke Zero 400 and for the rest of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, but he's currently being slowed down by a back injury that is affecting his preparation for Saturday night's race at Daytona Motor Speedway. Hamlin had to sit out of Thursday's Sprint Cup practice because of the injury, and will also sit out of Friday's Nationwide Series race.
"My hope was to run the Nationwide Series race Friday night, but I woke up with a sore back earlier this week and feel it's in the best interest of the team to sit it out," Hamlin said in a statement released by the team. "Luckily it's nothing serious and the extra rest will help me on Saturday night."
Hamlin currently sits in fifth place in the Sprint Cup standings and he's had recent success at Daytona as well. He finished fourth at the Daytona 500, and has a career-best finish of third at Daytona races.