Denny Hamlin Abandons His Playoff Mantra After Disappointing Start in the Sin City

Despite being a veteran of the sport, Denny Hamlin has always fallen short when it comes to winning the Cup Series. This season, however, there is just something special about him. At 42, the Joe Gibbs Racing star is in the back end of his career and it’s now or never. But his quest for a maiden Cup Series title did not get off to a good start at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Given his form, the JGR man should not have much trouble making up the places, but there was a bit of concern in his voice.

Denny Hamlin has always performed in the round of eight. The JGR driver has made it to the championship race six times so far in his career. The three tracks in the round of 8 suit Hamlin’s driving style, including Las Vegas. The #11 driver already has one win to his name in the Sin City and he will be looking to add to that tally on Sunday.

Down the order but not out, Denny Hamlin looks forward to Vegas race day

However, Denny Hamlin’s qualifying run on Saturday did not go as planned. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was fast enough only for P15 which made him the lowest-starting playoff driver. His teammates Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr. will start the race from P1 and P4 respectively. Denny has a lot of places to make up but given his car, it should not be a problem.

Throughout the playoffs, Denny Hamlin has carried himself with an air of self-belief and trust in his team. And that trust is not misplaced. The #11 JGR crew has done a fantastic job with the car this season and has given their driver perhaps his best chance of winning the Cup Series. But the execution is mostly in Hamlin’s hands.

After the qualifying session, Denny Hamlin did not sound very pleased with how things turned out. This was a bit unusual for the 42-year-old whose belief in the #11’s speed never really made him worry about where he started. But Hamlin maintained that the team had a strategy for the race that he believed in.

“This has not been a track where we’ve practiced or qualified well. I mean the conditions are dramatically different than what we’re gonna race tomorrow so I feel more confident in kind of the process that we’ve got to get ready for the race versus going out here and being superfast. We tried the best we could but certainly, the car’s not set up well for these conditions,” the driver of the #11 said.

A lot of people believe that Denny Hamlin will break the curse and finally win that elusive Cup Series championship in 2023. The Hamlin hype train indeed is very real. But paddock insiders believe that there still are some areas where the JGR man has fallen short.

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Paddock insiders deliver damning verdict on JGR star

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The Athletic recently reached out to drivers, crew chiefs, and competition directors to learn about the positives and negatives of each of the eight playoff drivers. There were a lot of intriguing comments, including about Denny Hamlin and where he has gone wrong.

“As good as they are, they still tend to make that one killer mistake at the worst time,” said one insider, perhaps referring to all the on-track and pit-stop mishaps the 42-year-old has suffered.

“Some people will say maybe he’s choked in the past. And while I don’t think that’s true, I mean, he has made mistakes at critical times. And that’s the only thing I think is a pitfall, potentially,” quipped another insider.

But one insider’s comment was absolutely brutal as far as Denny Hamlin and his fans are concerned. According to this insider, the #11 driver simply cannot get the job done at Phoenix. That track is his “Achilles heel.”

“Phoenix is his Achilles heel. Maybe this is finally the year that he can do it, but I don’t think he can get past Phoenix,” the insider said.

Will Denny Hamlin be finally able to break his championship curse and prove his doubters wrong come the end of the season? Only time will tell.

Watch this story: Denny Hamlin Blames Tony Stewart for Letting Down “Slowest” Kevin Harvick