Despite not winning the Cup Series championship so far in his career, Denny Hamlin has been one of NASCAR’s star drivers for the past two decades. This season, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has bagged two wins in 27 races and has finished in the top five nine times. Going into the playoffs, Hamlin was confident that he could make a significant impact in Darlington—one of his favorite tracks—but a costly error dented his expectations.

The #11 JGR driver is being touted as one of the strongest contenders for the championship and for good reason. Even when he has not won races, Hamlin’s performances have often been impressive. As a matter of fact, he was one of the best drivers even in Darlington on Sunday and he seemed set to take the race victory and move into the next round.

Denny Hamlin jinxes his race despite leading for the most part

Qualifying was a hugely successful day for Joe Gibbs Racing who locked out the front row. Christopher Bell started the race from pole position and Denny Hamlin was in second. It did not take long for Hamlin to get past his teammate for the lead and he comfortably secured first place in stage one.

It was more of the same in the second stage at Darlington. Hamlin was flying in his #11 JGR car, maintaining his position at the front of the track no matter what challenges came at him. With a steady hand on the wheel and years of experience in his driving style, Hamlin stormed his way to the second stage win, securing another valuable playoff point in the process.

Before the third and final stage of the race got underway, the 42-year-old was everyone’s favorite to win. He was in form and his crew had gotten the strategy perfectly right until that point. Even if Hamlin didn’t win, fans and experts were certain that he would at least finish in the top five.

After pitting ahead of the third stage, Hamlin found himself near the front of the pack when William Byron passed him on lap 274, and that is when he realized that he had a huge problem. The #11 was moving slowly on the track and its driver was complaining about a loose wheel.

This was a massive blunder by the #11 crew that had been spotless all night. This one error cost them what could have been a fantastic victory. As a result, Hamlin had to be pitted again and he lost a lot of track position, effectively ending his challenge for the win.

Before the playoffs began, Hamlin uploaded a video on his Instagram handle where he stated that he felt confident that he could go all the way in the Cup Series. At 42, Hamlin is reaching the twilight of his career and he is desperate to win the Cup at least once before he hangs up his boots.

However, many would suggest that the video only shows Hamlin to be overconfident, and superstitious fans might say that he jinxed what would have been a fantastic victory at Darlington in the very first playoff race.

Hamlin was obviously disappointed and frustrated to have suffered such a mishap on a night when everything else was near perfect. But he remained professional and did not express any form of dissatisfaction with his crew.

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Hamlin remains diplomatic despite heartbreak

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The #11 JGR man eventually finished the race in 25th place, which absolutely does not reflect how brilliant he was for most of the race. After the race, the 42-year-old said that they had a really good car that was capable of winning races and that the mistake his crew made and the issues he faced was just a part of motorsports.

“I mean really good car just you know we worked hard Darlington here to get us a race-winning car, and Chris and while team just stood up and great job, you know giving me a race-winning car that’s obviously controlled the race-until we had some troubles so I mean it’s just part of it,” the #11 driver said in the post-race interview.

Had there not been an error on the crew’s part, Hamlin would have come very close to winning at Darlington. This will be a positive for JGR as their car looked faster than the rest of the field. If the mistakes are cut down and everything runs efficiently, it will be difficult stopping Denny Hamlin.

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