Denny Hamlin is struggling. For the first time in his career, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver hasn’t secured a single stage point in his opening three Cup Series races. It hasn’t been the start to the season the veteran was hoping for, as he finished outside the top 20 at Daytona and COTA, resulting in the unwanted statistic. To make matters worse, the No. 11 Toyota driver also wrecked Austin Dillon, which destroyed the lead Kyle Busch had built at the front of the pack because of the caution, spoiling Richard Childress Racing’s party.

Sharing his thoughts on the incident, the Florida native pointed fingers at NASCAR’s multi-billion dollar sponsor for being the reason behind the wreck. Could Hamlin be deflecting blame, or is there an element of truth in his words?

Denny Hamlin praises the race at COTA

Denny Hamlin had a point to prove. After lackluster results in the opening two races, the 44-year-old was eager to hit the ground running at the newly overhauled 2.4-mile Circuit of The Americas road course. He qualified for the race in 11th place, but his race couldn’t have begun on a worse note. A Lap 1, Turn 1 incident ignited by Ross Chastain caused damage to his No. 11 Toyota, ripping his right fender off, and the veteran struggled for pace as the race progressed. Desperate to make up grid positions, the 44-year-old scrambled to climb up the ladder as the race progressed, only to wreck Austin Dillon towards the end.

Hailed as the ‘calamity corner,’ Turn 6A was touted as a dangerous zone going into the race at COTA’s new configuration. Unfortunately for Austin Dillon, the Richard Childress Racing driver learned that lesson the hard way after Denny Hamlin’s tires locked up in the area, resulting in a nose-first slam into the No. 3 Chevy. The subsequent impact pushed the North Carolina native into the gravel, forcing him to retire early with a 35th-place finish. While Hamlin took the blame for the incident, it was NASCAR’s 2.6 billion worth partner’s tire falloff that was the underlying reason for the wreck.

Speaking on the Actions Detrimental podcast, the veteran racer said, “No, it’s the tire. The tire just has a lot of debris, a lot of rubber shreds off this tire. Which, you know, to kind of pivot here, this is why for the first couple of years of this show, we were always hammering on Goodyear like, ‘We need tire falloff, we need falloff. ’ This is what you get when you have a falloff. This was an exceptional race. It was a race where tires mattered.”

So, despite blaming Goodyear for the crash, he was happy with their set of tires for COTA. Hamlin has always been an advocate for adding less grip to these tires to increase the wear and tear, as he felt it would improve the racing. He further elaborated on this, saying, “Bell had just slightly better tires than Kyle Busch. Chase Elliott charged through the field from 21st in those last 15 laps.”

The caution that followed proved to have a detrimental effect on Kyle Busch as well. The two-time Cup Series winner had a healthy lead before the incident occurred, but the yellow flag helped Rowdy’s competitors get closer to him, making the restart challenging. Driving the No. 8 Chevy, the lack of grip because of worn-out tires hurt the Nevada native, who went from being first to settling for a fifth-place finish at the road course.

Busch even said after the race that his tires were a big reason why Bell and 3 others, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, and Chase Elliott, were able to overtake him in the closing laps. “Was just trying to protect my tires… Then when you get a yellow and get bunched up, it’s complete defensive mode,” said Busch, highlighting the strategy involved in racing with fast-wearing tires. Elliott notably finished in the top-5 despite being involved in the same lap 1 crash as Hamlin due to his pitting strategy that gave him fresher tires than most of the grid.

Denny Hamlin clearly has some work to do in improving his performance at road courses, and he touched on the same in his podcast.

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Hamlin sees areas of improvement in his racecraft

Denny Hamlin has been there and done that. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has spent nearly two decades at NASCAR’s highest level, winning the Daytona 500 thrice, as well as the Coca-Cola 600 in 2022. Given his experience and talent, there is very little the No. 11 Toyota driver can’t do on the racetrack, but despite his many achievements in the sport, the Florida native identifies room for improvement on road courses.

Sharing his thoughts about the race in COTA, Hamlin candidly said, “I mean, there were times throughout the race where I felt competitive. I was catching the top 10 cars. I could see them, they were coming back to me. I was running to them. And then there were other times when I was just like, ‘God dang man.’ Just hit a mark for once. It’s a shame because I actually enjoy road course driving, I just wish I was better at it.”

While the season has not begun the way Denny Hamlin would have hoped for, upcoming races in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Homestead-Miami, and Martinsville represent good opportunities to turn his fortunes around. At 44, time is running out for the racer to secure the elusive Bill France Cup for the first time in his career. However, one can’t help but feel that after 20 years in the sport, it’s now or never for the veteran racer. Will he be able to make it to Championship 4 this time around? Time will tell.