What happens when you bunch a field of identical race cars that can almost run at similar speeds? The margin of difference between race winners and the rest of the competition keeps shrinking. This is precisely what happened with the Next Gen car, where NASCAR promotes parity racing. To make matters worse, the almighty SMT data made sure that every team and driver was on the same page. So, you don’t have the winning streaks you had back in the days of Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin knows all about it. But even before the Gen 7 car rolled out Hamlin couldn’t figure out the winning formula to win at Martinsville Speedway.

He delivered a dominating performance last weekend at the paperclip and bagged his first win of 2025, but it came after a decade. Hamlin is known for his prowess on the short tracks, but for some reason, he couldn’t crack the code after his win back in 2015. At the same time, Martin Truex Jr., who had just joined JGR, was on a red-hot streak at the historic short track. From 2019 to 2021, the former JGR driver had won at Martinsville three years in a row, and this left Hamlin scratching his head. He tried all the tricks that MTJ used at the paperclip, but it wasn’t until last Sunday that he found the formula to get back in the victory lane.

Here’s the moment that changed it all, straight from Hamlin on his podcast Actions Detrimental after the race: “So I went through a transition where Truex was, you know, consistently beating me at Martinsville about six, seven years ago. And so I said, all right, well, I really got to figure out why. And so I studied and I studied and I looked and there was a moment where we had a rain delay early in the race and he had just went around me. And at that time I was like, man, my car is pretty good. So why is he better?” 

Well, Hamlin wasn’t far behind when it came to winning at Martinsville from 2019 to 2021. He had three top 5 finishes. In fact, in the Gen 7 era, during the fall races, he brought out his A-game, and out of the six races, four of them ended with top 5 results. So, despite the change in equipment and style of racing, he was making good progress. And SMT data also helped him gain insights on how different his drive was from the past race and compare it to Truex’s runs.

“And so I was, I logged on SMTI. I looked at it and was like, okay, when we go back green, I’m going to drive my car like that. Let me just see what happens. And we went back green. I drove it like that. And immediately I said, whoa, I’m going to need something different out of my car to do this. Like it’s, you know, it wasn’t faster for me. I was driving the car to its max capability for what I, the area I had sent my team down, you know, because here’s my driving style. I’m going to drive it like this. I need the car to work a certain way to adapt to my style. Martin had a different style, and so he needed something different out of his car,” Hamlin added.

Denny Hamlin is arguably the best short-track racer out there. But he realized that one size wasn’t going to fit all, especially on a track that demands skill and racecraft. Remember, last year, with the return of the Bristol race on concrete, he was the one who defied Goodyear tires curveball of excess tire-wear. All he needed was time to identify his best approach to tackle the Martinsville race, and leading 274 laps out of the 400 was proof enough to know that he figured out the deal. The Cookout 400 win was his 6th at the paperclip, and he’s certainly silenced a lot of doubters with a dominating performance.

To be fair, even Denny Hamlin wasn’t sure about his capabilities coming into the 2025 season. But, with a win early in the season and faith in the new crew chief, he just might get a shot at winning the elusive championship.

Denny Hamlin had his doubts surrounding Chris Gayle

For the last three years, Team Penske has consistently beaten JGR, and while Christopher Bell has been a championship race regular, coach Gibbs wanted Hamlin to be back in contention. Important note: Hamlin hasn’t been in the Phoenix championship race in the Next Gen era. And this might have forced Joe Gibbs’ hand in separating him and Chris Gabehart.

Hamlin was shocked when he got to know about the massive overhaul within the organization and he couldn’t envision a future without Gabehart. “There was a period there where I certainly was not happy with Joe Gibbs Racing or decisions that they make in the off-season kind of without talking to me at all about it. But you know, I gotta trust that they got the bigger picture in mind… Sometimes you gotta make those changes… I certainly was worried. I felt like, ‘Okay, I don’t want to start over, I’m too late in my career to start over.’ And I just wasn’t really excited about that.” He said this on Dale Jr. Download.

Hamlin and Chris Gabehart had attained 22 race wins together, edging close to a possible championship. If there was anyone who could’ve guided him to his final milestone it was Gabehart. But, looking at the win at Martinsville along with the start the #11 team has made to the new season, it’s fair to say Hamlin is in the right hands. Gayle might not be Gabehart, but he’s starting to influence how the 2025 would look like for Hamlin and the #11 team.