NASCAR veteran Denny Hamlin, since 2014, has always made the playoffs. In his two-decade-long career starting from 2005, on four occasions he has managed to reach the championship. And 2010 was the closest he came to a title after finishing 2nd behind NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson. Nevertheless, the 43-year-old is still in search of his first championship.

This year could be ‘the’ year when he finally takes the trophy. However, the first round of the plays wasn’t ideal for the #11 JGR driver. After under-20 finishes in the first two races, he bagged a top-5 in Bristol, continuing his championship hopes. Even though the next round features the same kind of tracks, to Hamlin’s relief amongst the mix is Kansas. A track he’s dominated for a long!

Denny Hamlin shares his Kansas Formula

Hamlin is the winningest driver on the Kansas Speedway, having won 4 times on the 1.5-mile oval. His first victory came in 2012, in the race that had many NASCAR legends, including Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart. His next ones did not come until 2019 and 2020, when he bagged back-to-back wins. The #11’s most recent victory at Kansas was in the spring race of 2023 after a dramatic last-lap pass over Kyle Larson.

Other than winning Hamlin’s consistency on the track has been impeccable. Out of his 33 races on the track, 14 times Hamlin has finished in the top 5 and 15 times in the top 10. Ahead of the race in a press conference, Hamlin dwelled on what makes him so good at Kansas. He said, “I mean, I think the things that have made us really strong here is the ability to run the same lap time in multiple lanes. Certainly, everyone can run fast when they go up by the wall, but can you run fast when you actually have to pass someone and have to go down low.”

The #11 has a 2.8 average finish in the five Next Gen car races in Kansas. He’s finished in the top 5 in all of them and has also thrice managed top-2 finishes. His most current one is in the 5th place in the spring race of 2024. Followed by 2nd, 1st, 2nd, and 4th in the first next-gen race in 2022. His record over the years is proof enough that Denny Hamlin can dominate the Kansas track in any kind of car. Wouldn’t it be great for #11 team if Kansas hosted the finale? “Yeah, it certainly from a driver’s standpoint, from a competition standpoint, it seems like it puts on some of the best racing that we have. This track in particular stands out amongst them. So, certainly, bias, yeah sure from my standpoint, absolutely (laughter) – as the one race winner take all. But, certainly, there’s a lot of factors that go into that,” Hamlin said on the subject.

And not just Kansas Hamlin has been dominant on many of the intermediate tracks. Look at his most recent finishes. He got a P7 at the second race in Darlington this year. A P5 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a P4 at the first Darlington race, and a P8 at Las Vegas, just to name a few. According to the number #11, they have adapted to this style of racing. “I think our ability and the versatility of our car over the last few years is really what’s made us excel and just the momentum-based type of racing that we have on these mile and a halves. It seems like I’ve adapted to that type of style.” He further said.

However, Kansas is one track. What about Talladega and Charlotte ROVAL? Hamlin has struggled on both superspeedways as well as road courses. Well, Hamlin thinks Kansas would be enough to make it to the round of 8. But can he really? After he’s only managed a P8 start in the qualification.

Denny Hamlin on entering the second round of playoffs

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Ahead of round two of the playoffs, many NASCAR insiders have voiced caution for the #11 team. Since it’s the same kind of track as in round 1. And the veteran doesn’t have a good history on such tracks. Recently NASCAR analyst Eric Estepp made a detailed analysis of how the #11 would fare in the round of 12. Things aren’t in his favor except for Kansas.

Estepp said, “Oh Denny, I don’t love this round for Denny Hamlin. Talladega could be trouble. He has an average finish of 28.2 at drafting tracks this year. The ROVAL could cause problems. He has an average finish of 26 at road courses this season.” However, the veteran is positive this time around as he takes a sigh of relief, escaping the uncertainties.

Hamlin speaking about how his mindset has changed from round one to two, said, “So, certainly there was a little sigh of relief from my standpoint leaving the first round around and certainly now going into one of my best race tracks I think that now let’s capitalize and go from treading water seven days ago to punching our ticket into the Round of 8, eight days later.”

However, would it be as easy as Hamlin thinks it would? Especially after a disappointing qualification. Would the past race winner of Kansas Kyle Larson let the #11 take it so easily? Overall, it is going to be a thrilling battle to the finish. Who do you think will win the race?