It is no secret how Denny Hamlin enjoys racing on superspeedways. In fact, he and Joey Logano seem to be two of the best drivers the Cup Series currently has on oval tracks. Having said that, while the latter triumphed in Atlanta on Sunday, Hamlin displayed a forgettable performance. His defensive strategy didn’t work out as planned. While Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kevin Harvick criticized it, one of the #11 team members also accepted it as a mistake.

Denny Hamlin has been in fine form this season having already registered three victories. While he entered the playoffs as one of the favorites for the championship, the start didn’t go his way. Given how he could have enjoyed a good run at the 1.540-mile quad-oval, his P24 finish was more than underwhelming.

Denny Hamlin made a ‘mistake’ in the Quaker State 400 with his defensive approach

It all started with the powertrain issue in the qualifiers. Denny Hamlin was sent to the back of the grid for the Quaker State 400. While this was challenging itself, Hamlin’s cautious strategy on Sunday backfired immensely. With a P24 finish, the #11 driver failed to register any playoff points and now sits just two points above the elimination line.

Surprisingly, it all took place because of Hamlin’s unexpected strategy. Given his expertise on a track like Atlanta, he was one of the favorites to win on Sunday. However, to everyone’s surprise, the 43-year-old played it out defensively and waited for an intense wreck to spoil things up. Unfortunately for him, it only backfired as he failed to register any stage points and eventually was caught in a wreck.

For a driver of his caliber, it is safe to say that the decision of not being aggressive haunted the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Even his friend and veteran driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr questioned Denny Hamlin’s approach. He said, “If I am a Denny Hamlin fan and if I want look Denny’s probably come out of this okay, he’s probably gonna make it to the next round. This all gets forgotten. He’s just out of character. I don’t know how else to say it. I was a little surprised by that approach from him.”

While Junior criticized Denny Hamlin, so did Kevin Harvick. The 48-year-old downplayed Hamlin’s approach. He said, “Whatever it was, it’s a complete failure. And when you look at the 11 strategies, it goes totally against everything that they are. Denny Hamlin is great on the superspeedway. They got no stage points, crashed at the end, and now they’re, you know, two points above the cut line. So you cannot race this car scared.”

With Harvick and Dale Jr criticizing Denny Hamlin for his approach, even the #11 crew chief Chris Gabehart joined the bandwagon. Speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Gabehart explained his role in the cautious approach. He said, “So, we were both on the same page with let’s lay back for a couple of laps, make sure that everybody understands what their car has and you don’t have any early race mistakes that could take us out as a bystander.”

Gabehart added, “I didn’t expect the rest of it to be as conservative as it was on his behalf, and we didn’t plan that together. I wish we would have changed our, I wish we would have. Had I known that was more of an issue in his head, I would have done my best to talk through the scenario ahead of time with him.” Unfortunately, the crew chief couldn’t stop Hamlin from making a big mistake in Atlanta. Nevertheless, the #11 team has the chance to bounce back at The Glen this weekend and Hamlin knows how best it could be done.

Denny Hamlin discloses the key factor in winning at the Watkins Glen after the Atlanta disappointment

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Without a doubt, Denny Hamlin has been in fine form this season. While he has already registered nine top-five and 12 top-ten finishes this season, it was surprising why he went with a strategy to earn 20 points per race in the playoffs. Now, the pressure remains on him to make the most out of his opportunities, starting with the race at Watkins Glen.

In 17 races there, Hamlin has won once and finished in the top five and top-10 six and nine times, respectively. Interestingly, he struggled to register a top-25 finish at Watkins Glen between 2010 to 2016. However, it has all drastically changed since 2016, as he has finished out of the top five only twice. Speaking about the track on the latest episode of his podcast ‘Actions Detrimental,’ he described what will be the key to success in New York on Sunday.

Denny Hamlin said, “It’s one of my favorite road courses. It’s got a handful of passing zones. Qualifying is really, really important there. I can’t emphasize how important qualifying is, because the speeds that we run, aerodynamics meaning so much, and really the one-lane track that it is, it’s just, you gotta qualify well. That’s going to be the key.”

With new tires set to be used at Watkins Glen, it could turn out to be a game-changer. Hamlin said, “This will be the X-Factor, with this new tire, if it does wear as quick as they’re talking about, you’re going to have one shot at it. Because if you have to go and re-run again, the lap time will likely is just going to be just so far off. I remember last year, the more times that you ran in on the tires, the more cycles you put on it. It just kept getting faster. But this one doesn’t sound like it’s going to be like that.”

It is going to be interesting how the tire dynamics affect the race on Sunday. Nevertheless, it remains a vital race in Denny Hamlin’s hopes of a title win this season. Can he make the most out of it? We shall soon find out.