There is an unspoken nervousness in every Cup driver’s step now. The 26 races of regular season fights and aspirations have drawn to a close, and now only 16 chosen ones battle for the championship. Hence, the playoff opener race at Atlanta Motor Speedway appeared to be a nail-biter as drivers strove to avoid colliding with each other. However, Denny Hamlin opines that was a result of technical issues.

Well, all the fender-banging of NASCAR has traditionally stuck to short tracks, where tempers flare. But Atlanta experienced car issues – so drivers’ moods were not related. Hence, Hamlin surmised that nervousness was not the culprit in the chaos in Atlanta.

Denny Hamlin rooted out the Atlanta problem

Chase Elliott was faring well among his Hendrick Motorsports compatriots at the Quaker State 400. Contrary to Kyle Larson’s early lap 56 exit, Elliott held his own. Yet during a pit stop a bizarre car handling issue emerged as he slid head-first into Austin Cindric’s car. That problem reappeared on the very last lap when Joey Logano was just about to clinch his second victory of 2024. Elliott got into Chastain’s car, which shuttled into a few others, including Denny Hamlin. Yet Hamlin opts to blame external factors for this near-chaotic scenario as his own strategy failed.

In an episode of ‘Actions Detrimental’, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver outlined some reasons. “There were a couple of factors – one of them being that the track had lost grip. And everyone’s car wasn’t handling quite as good as it was…The leaders’ pace was about 6-8/10ths off of what it was in the spring.” Denny Hamlin instead claimed that everybody was trying their best not to trade paint. “I think that the reason we didn’t have these massive pile-ups really is that you had to keep distance between you and the car in front of you or behind you because your car was just out of control.”

Yet Denny Hamlin surmised that the drivers were far from nervous, despite Atlanta being the first playoff race. “Because I always feel like, if anything, the Fall races are always wilder. You got 16…well 4 of those 16 have already blown the cut. They’re gonna be aggressive. Then you’ve got 20 others who have nothing to lose. They’re not part of the playoffs, they’re just trying to win…So I don’t really think it’s timidness from a playoff driver perspective.”

But this same aggression is accepted on a broader level because of one thing – Atlanta is not a short track.

Tempers vary on NASCAR tracks

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When stock cars zoomed around a NASCAR circuit in the series’ initial years, fans knew only one type of track. NASCAR first flourished on short tracks across the South East. That is why Bristol and Martinsville are some of the oldest as well. That also means they define classic NASCAR – drivers trying to get away from each other on half-mile circuits, fender-banging, and then post-race brawls. We all know the Kyle Busch-Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fistfight at North Wilkesboro Speedway this year. Yet in comparison, people fight less on superspeedways – because the draft-driven pack racing is often out of control.

That is the point Denny Hamlin made while talking about the Atlanta race and its peaceful post-race interviews. “There’s more wrecks on superspeedways than there are on short tracks. But why are there fistfights at the short tracks? Because it’s just accepted more on superspeedways, like oh, that person hit that one. Ah, it’s just speedway racing. On short tracks it’s like, no you had control of your sh-t, and you ran all right into me – that calls for fighting.” 

All in all, Atlanta was a dramatic opener to the 2024 playoffs. Although drivers’ cars zoomed out of their control at times, major wrecks were avoided.