NASCAR is a grueling season-long tournament where every race and every point counts towards the ultimate goal: the championship. Teams naturally strategize to maximize their racer’s point haul throughout the year because those points are what determine who takes the top spot going into the playoffs. But there’s a strategic wrinkle: focusing solely on points can sometimes come at the cost of winning the actual race. The recent Pocono race sparked this very debate.

Denny Hamlin was running strong, leading many to wonder if a less aggressive strategy for stage points could have secured him his eighth win at the ‘Tricky Triangle’. However, Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes prioritizing stage points is not wrong in the larger championship picture.

A typical Pocono race ended with drama when Blaney took the checkered flag. There was a massive multi-car crash, and many emotions were expressed. Denny Hamlin took second place. Why are we still questioning their strategy?

A strategic mistake that stopped Denny Hamlin from winning the race

Denny Hamlin, in his last four races, finished 38, 24, and 12. It was necessary for them to go after the maximum points. Hamlin did not win but was able to get 54 points at the end of the race and evidently went for wins, as he mentioned, “Good points day, but I just care about wins.”

However, his chief crew member, Chris Gabehart, was satisfied with the points. As he expressed post-race, “Yeah, it’s a big deal to your point, We’ve had a lot of struggles, and everyone does. But with results, we should have quite a few more points in the bucket than we do at this point. So to take a big chunk out of the points lead, have a solid day heading into, in the 11 car’s opinion, probably the most important race of the year.”

A driver isn’t just racing that race; he is competing for the entire season, where points are of crucial importance. Going for points and missing out on a win might not be all that bad, especially for Denny Hamlin.

In the Dale Jr. Download episode aired on July 16th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said it wasn’t wrong to do that: “I think..you know it’s not a mistake, by Denny and those guys. I mean they were in second. Things could have worked out to where they got the stage points they were trying to commit to and win the race.”

Feb 14, 2024; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) during qualifying for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY SportsHe further emphasized that a lot of factors are at play in a race that determine the driver’s finishing position, like Corey LaJoie‘s incident with Kyle Busch. Going just for the victory and ignoring all the other ways you can score points can be expensive. One pit stop error, and the driver is at the back of the pack. In such a case, securing stage points turns your bad into a decent one.

On the same lines, Dale Jr. further added, “What if you give up that (stage points) and then somehow you have a little mistake on the pit stop or something late in the race and you lose one or two spots?” You run second or third in the race, and you don’t get anything.” Denny Hamlin preps for Brickyard 400 next. He spoke about the racing at Indy and how there are similarities to Pocono.

“Indianapolis has a lot of similarity to Pocono,” says the JGR driver

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NASCAR would move to Indianapolis next for the next Cup series race. The race will be crucial because Denny Hamlin needs all the points he can get to challenge for the top spot. Currently, Chase Briscoe has a 20-point lead over him, and a win would be a career-first for Hamlin; the same can’t be said for many tracks as he’s conquered it all.

While talking at a press conference, he said that Brickyard is a strategy-driven race. “It will be an execution-type race; you’ll need to qualify well, but you just never know what can happen. Strategy is a big thing there.”

However, a similar result as Pocono would be great for Denny Hamlin to climb position on the table. On the same lines, he spoke about the similarities between the Tricky Triangle and Indianapolis. “There will be similarities for sure. Alot of it is because of the long straightways, the corners, the angle of the corners are not all that different.”

Team Hamlin would be cooking up their strategy, hopeful of getting a win. Not just for points or regular season championships but also for personal glory. However, they will most likely go for stage points because, with just 5 races to go, points are all that matter.