When you think about a road course race, you think about someone like Shane Van Gisbergen, AJ Allmendinger, maybe Chase Elliott, and even Ross Chastain. But Denny Hamlin isn’t the first name that pops into your head. And Hamlin hasn’t been a big fan of road courses, which is surprising! There are hardly any tracks that Hamlin has not won on. But over his two-decade-long Cup Career of 54 wins, he’s only once won a road course race. Just once!

And that came in 2016 when he bagged the checkered flag at Watkins Glen. And somehow Watkins Glen is like an exception. The #11 team always does well there. Like how he got a P2 there in 2023. Out of his 15 top 5s on road course races, 6 have been at ‘The Glen.’ But now we are heading to COTA and Hamlin’s never finished better than P14 there. And this time the track layout has changed. So there might be added challenges. And ahead of the race, Hamlin has spoken about the challenges!

Denny Hamlin opens up about the COTA weekend!

For a driver, 21 years into the sport, with a caliber like Denny Hamlin…has to have gotten a championship by now. But the Florida native hasn’t yet bagged the elusive trophy. And like every year…the #11 is hopeful that this could be ‘the’ year. But they have faced challenges entering 2025. FedEx left, and Chris Gabehart moved out of the crew chief position. But still, they are hanging in there. So far, it’s been a mixed season. P3 at Bowman Gray Stadium. They almost won the Daytona 500. Finally, a P6 at the recent Atlanta race.

Now, a road course race with a new layout, a new crew chief and sponsor pose challenges for this veteran. So, the original 3.41-mile track has been shortened to 2.4 miles. Basically, the long straightaways have been cut short with a sharp left turn (which NASCAR is calling turn 6a), followed by another left turn (6b), which connects to the previous layout’s turn 12. And Hamlin, and his new crew chief Chris Gayle, are trying to get the most out of this race.

Ahead of the race, Hamlin said, “Yeah, I mean this is kind of the first week where me and Gayle are you know, trying to work on the car. And truthfully he’s still handicapped when he’s with me here at a road course. So I’m trying to do the best I can to give him the best information possible. But I understand that you know our bread and butter is going to be weeks after this.” After COTA, the Cup Series heads to Phoenix. We’d not say it’s Hamlin’s best track. But at least it’s more in his alley than COTA is.

And maybe after the layout changes it might be different. And Denny Hamlin is positive about COTA this year. Maybe because it’s the same length as Watkins Glen and also it has more laps now (95 up from 65 last season). “You know interesting it feels wider than what it was in the simulator. But still it’s um it’s a tight corner. But overall I say like I like the layout maybe a little bit better because it does you know give you some more reps around the racetrack more laps. I don’t think it really takes away that many passing zones maybe one or two but overall I feel like the track change is good,” Hamlin added. The #11 driver is starting the race in P11. Who knows…maybe we’ll get a good run from him. And in any case, Hamlin’s might have a reason to celebrate after the COTA race.

23XI Racing sets the stage for a photo finish!

Hamlin might not have made it to the top 10 in qualifying. But his drivers Tyler Reddick (P1) and Bubba Wallace (P2) have taken the top starting spots in the race. And we already had Reddick on the front runners list, but now even Wallace has joined it. Reddick has been unbelievable on COTA: Won it in 2023, and in the 4 starts has never started worse than P4. Even his finishes…three times have been in the top 5! But for Wallace, this is massive. So far, it’s his best starting position on the track. Maybe he can also improve his finishing this year. The best has been P15 (2024)!

And Tyler Reddick is pumped to start with his teammate beside him. In fact, this was more of a relief as the 23XI cars had no pace in the practice sessions. Both the #45 and #23 did not even have top 15 pace in either of the practice sessions. And Reddick was happy with how things turned out when he said, “The pace was nowhere where we thought it was going to be, and everybody here on this [No.] 45 and everyone here at 23XI really had to go to work on our Toyota Camrys. We made massive improvements from practice one to practice two. Obviously we didn’t have the fire off the lap we were wanting, and I knew we were going to have to go out there and find it right away. I’m just really glad today went like it did. It’s going to be great track position for us tomorrow.”

Also, for Reddick, the front row at COTA is anyway familiar territory. But for Wallace, it’s going to be a new challenge, and he’s pumped for it. “I was way out in left field in practice, so we made some big gains on our Mobil 1 Toyota. I have to keep finding it. Tomorrow is a different pace for me — racing and being aggressive and staying up front. That’ll be the new challenge. But all in all, just continuing to get speed and getting more comfortable in these types of places — that’s what it’s all about. It’s all about the men and women at 23XI.” Let’s see how both of them hold up in the race.

Do you think any of the 23XI cars can win COTA? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.