Could 2024 finally be Denny Hamlin’s year, where he reaches the pinnacle of NASCAR, snapping an 18-year streak? Well, if we are to go by his regular-season run, it is hard to argue that he isn’t a genuine title contender. In fact, Hamlin himself is pretty confident about his chances going into the playoffs. So much so that he puffed his chest in claiming that the #11 team is by far the quickest in the Cup garage. While the results haven’t always gone their way, he hardly feels threatened by the challenge put up by rival teams and drivers.

All but one, of course, he is well aware of the threat Kyle Larson and the #5 team can be to his championship dream.

Denny Hamlin is ‘unfazed’ by the challenges with regard to his rivals

Hamlin isn’t bluffing when he claims to be the frontrunner to win the championship this year. It is based on the results of his team’s performances on the track in 26 races so far. 3 wins, 3 runner-up finishes, and 6 top 5 results — certainly back his case as a powerhouse team on the playoff grid. Moreover, he’s led 917 laps with six stage wins to further solidify his case. So when the Joe Gibbs Racing star was asked about the challenges he might face in the playoffs, he simply stated, “It’s so different because I feel like every year for one thing or another it’s not happened right.”

“And I feel, for the most part, I’ve done as good as I can. I’m very confident that there’s still only 2-3 teams that can win every single week. We’re one of them…But speed-wise, I just don’t think there’s anyone besides us and the #5 that are on elite speed level.”

However, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Denny Hamlin, as he’s had a stroke of awful luck on the superspeedway races. He’s failed to put up a single top-10 result on these venues and had DNFs at Talladega and the Coke Zero 400 Daytona race. Adding to his misery was NASCAR’s L2 penalty call over the violation of engine rules. Which resulted in a deduction of 75 points, along with 10 playoff points, thus derailing their hunt for the regular season championship.

“But there’s been some crazy things that have happened that would have taken us out of the playoffs. We still can’t control the fact that we can go to Atlanta and get wrecked this weekend. I think we were the worst team on Superspeedways this year, scoring points-wise. We’ve gotten caught in everyone’s crashes,” Denny Hamlin added.

And it seems like Denny Hamlin is indeed cursed when it comes to superspeedway configuration races in 2024. He starts the Atlanta race on the tail end of the field, #38, after a dismal qualifying run yesterday. There were reports about trouble with the TRD engines yet again, but the driver has been optimistic about a good result despite the mishap.

Not the start #11 team expected to their playoffs run

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TRD’s engine woes have been under the scanner throughout the year, be it in the Cup or the Xfinity Series. Denny Hamlin couldn’t evade these troubles as his engine busted after the very first lap during the Sonoma race. And it seems like they are yet to find a permanent fix for this recurring issue. The No. 11 Toyota Camry was off pace during the qualifying laps for the Atlanta race, which marks the start of the playoffs.

A report by Motorsports stated that the #11 Camry had issues with the powertrain and the team would rectify the issue before the start of the race. Track position is indeed crucial while competing in the Next-Gen car, but Hamlin believes he can still get the job done. “I don’t think it’s gonna be an issue or a huge deal. I mean, it’s certainly not ideal, right? We wish we would be upfront with a good track position. But overall, I think with the way this race plays out. We didn’t have any false hopes that we’re going to qualify that well here anyway but certainly didn’t expect and glad we had that one lap to put in before we had the problem,” Hamlin told Bob Pockrass.

Given the position in which Denny Hamlin finds himself, a solid top 5 run would look like a success for him. Anything beyond that would be just a bonus that he would gladly accept.