In the high-stakes world of NASCAR playoffs, every move counts. And Denny Hamlin, the veteran driver for Joe Gibbs almost saved himself from the consequences of a costly pit road speeding penalty at Talladega Superspeedway. During the post-race interviews, Hamlin spoke about almost giving a heart attack to his crew chief. He also gave a hint of his chances going into the final race of the second round of eliminations in the playoffs.

Denny Hamlin’s journey in Talladega was far from smooth. A pit road speeding penalty during the second stage threatened to derail his playoff ambitions. The incident raised eyebrows, however, he salvaged a commendable P4 finish at the end.

Denny Hamlin admits his mistake that almost gave Chris Gabehart a heart attack

Denny Hamlin found himself in a tough spot when he received a pit road speeding penalty on lap 105. Tough break, but Hamlin was granted a free pass, allowing him to rejoin the lead lap. However, his race day was far from smooth sailing. For a significant portion of the race, he was running near the back, 25th or below. Hendrick Motorsports were leading the pack. Everything seemed to be going their way until the Fords of Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick made their move to take the lead.

As Alex Bowman fell back in the third lane, Hamlin seized the opportunity and navigated through the middle lane and made up positions. On the final lap, Herbst crashed into a few cars including Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, and that helped Denny Hamlin to move up to P4.

During the post-race interview, Denny Hamlin was asked about his crew chief Chris Gabehart’s comment that Hamlin almost gave him a heart attack. Kim asked, “Crew Chief Chris Gabehart said you almost gave him a heart attack. How hard was it to overcome everything tonight?”

“It was difficult,” said the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran, adding, “It was my own doing… The Toyota was fast obviously, when I needed a push I couldn’t get to the front, but obviously did not want to set us back there with that penalty… but proud of our efforts to get into the top 5s.”

“You’re heading to Roval with +50, how does that make you feel?” Kim asked. “Makes me feel pretty good, thank you for asking,” he concluded.

Hamlin’s acknowledgment of his own fault reflects his ability to bounce back from challenging situations. Despite the setback, he powered through to secure a commendable finish to increase his points cushion to +50 heading into Charlotte Roval.

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Hamlin may have amassed a 50-point cushion, but his numbers at the Charlotte Roval have not been all that convincing in the past few years.

Can Hamlin turn around his string of lackluster performances at the Charlotte Roval?

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As Denny Hamlin gears up for the final race of the second round of playoff eliminations at Charlotte Roval, the odds may not be in his favor based on his track record at the venue. Over the past five years, Hamlin’s performances at there have been inconsistent. Despite securing pole positions in 2020 and 2021, he has only managed to finish inside the top 10 once during this period.

His track history at the roval includes finishes of 12th, 19th, 15th, 5th, and 13th since 2018. While statistics alone don’t paint a rosy picture, it’s important to note that Denny Hamlin is a NASCAR heavyweight with 51 Cup Series wins, who has time and again demonstrated his potential to overcome adversity.

As Hamlin heads into this pivotal race, he faces a challenging task, but his experience and determination may prove to be the deciding factors in his pursuit of playoff success.

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What are your predictions for Denny Hamlin at the Charlotte Roval? Do you think he’ll be able to break his string of just average performances or will he finish outside of the top 10 once again? And if he does, how do you see the eliminations playing out? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.