The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is slowly shaping up to be the best of Denny Hamlin’s decorated career. After predicting victory at Dover and inching closer to the HMS squad, the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver is eager to make the most of the opening round of playoff races. With three wins in the bag already, this could finally be the year we see NASCAR’s Villain take home the championship.

That being said, Hamlin’s early prowess in the season wouldn’t matter at all if the #11 team doesn’t make the most of the first few rounds of the playoffs. Speaking on SiriusXM’s NASCAR Radio, the #11 crew chief, Chris Gabehart, revealed how the “sense of urgency” to bring home playoff points is higher than ever.

“Mark my words”: Chris Gabehart makes a shocking revelation that could throw curveballs at the top dogs

So far this season, no team’s confidence has been able to match the energy coming from Denny Hamlin’s JGR garage. Every time the team has run in the top five so far, they’ve managed to bring home sensational wins. However, when they aren’t running in the front, the results haven’t been as delightful. So now only a few months remain before the playoffs, Chris Gabehart believes a similar strategy could work out for Hamlin, albeit at great risk.

The #11 Crew Chief highlighted the importance of bringing home an early win in the playoffs to help bring in major points. In doing so, it would mitigate the risk of losing out to the unfortunate incidents that the #11 has had in the past. He stated, “You know, when you get a good start to the season, it starts to free up your ability to push even more. Because you already have a good playoff points bucket, you have a lot of confidence.”

In theory, Gabehart believes this would let Hamlin take greater risk in flowing races, meaning the prize could be equally sweeter. Bringing home a solid result early could help ease nerves within the #11 garage and ensure smooth sailing toward the Championship 4. That being said, Gabehart believes that the first three rounds of the 2024 Playoff calendar are double-edged blades. For 2024, we have Atlanta, Watkins Glen, and Bristol, all three tracks that can change the tides of the race in a second, as the opening rounds of the playoffs.

This, naturally, makes Chris Gabehart worried about the push for victory costing the team heavily. According to the crew chief, “Those are three pretty big wild cards, that if you don’t have enough playoff points backed up, mark my words, you’re going to see a big upset coming out of that first round, somebody’s not going to make it through. So I think the sense of urgency to stack playoff points is partially higher than ever due to this year’s first round.”

After taking a look at Chris Gabehart’s reservations, it’s safe to say Denny Hamlin must tread lightly in his pursuit of the sixty-win tally. However, as far as the #11 driver is concerned, the team couldn’t be in a better position.

Denny Hamlin reveals the #11 JGR team’s biggest improvement in 2024

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Recently, Denny Hamlin revealed major improvements that the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing crew had made that put them in such a position this year. After all, in all of his seasons, none had brought in three wins so soon. Although many, like Dale Earnhardt Jr., pointed out how Denny Hamlin just gets better and better as each year passes, the #11 driver cited the improvements in his pit crew as one of the major factors behind this resurgence.

Despite working with Chris Gabehart for half a decade, there was one factor in the #11 JGR team which seemed to hold back the duo every season, until 2024. Appearing on the Dale Jr Download, Hamlin revealed what had changed; “I think the pit crew is the biggest jump in performance we’ve had year over year, if I had to equate it. I think that last few years, to be frank, there were times I came down pit road, and we were gonna lose most likely. And this year, we’re maintaining or gaining.”

According to Hamlin, this was a major factor in his performance and results improving week in and week out. Compared to the times when he’d go from third to sixth owing to pit-stop timings, the #11 crew now confidently put Hamlin out in front nearly every time.

The driver shared his experience and compared it to the present: “You’re not gonna hear from me the rest of the day just simply because of tracking position meaning so much because the cars were so equal. So I just think that’s what we have hemmed hp on the #11 team, that it was the weakest link for a while, but it’s much better now and these guys are doing a great job.”

Taking a look at Chirs Gabehart’s reservations with the playoff races, do you think Denny Hamlin can bring home early wins with help from the new and improved pit crew?