Ever since the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season kicked off, Denny Hamlin and the #11 team were touted to be contenders for the championship. Having dominated the short-ovals and consistent performances weekly, it looked like Hamlin just might conquer his career’s highest peak. But, fast forward to the playoffs, and he’s looking more and more animated and frustrated with his on-track performances.

There have been questions surrounding his approach to the playoffs, but at Kansas, the #11 pit crew were the ones who had an off day. And eventually, the mistakes on the pit road cost Hamlin a potential shot at winning the race. He had every right to be frustrated after the race, but his rant about not being mentally in it has caused a stir. Although unfiltered opinions and statements aren’t new for the JGR star, but Kevin Harvick wasn’t pleased with how he handled the media questions after the race.

Denny Hamlin has too much on his plate, driving for the championship

Hamlin is trying to manage a lot of things apart from focusing on his playoff run. His team 23XI Racing is at loggerheads with NASCAR over the charter deal; he had the jolt of an engine penalty to the #11 team before the playoffs. He’s also facing uncertainty over the sponsorship deal with his premier partner FedEx for the next year. However, despite the chaos that’s surrounding him outside the racetrack, Harvick believes he shouldn’t have lost his cool.

“Part of what you do as a race car driver is you have to be a poker player. When you have that driver’s suit on, you have to play the game, and you can’t open your mouth to put yourself in a worse spot than you already are…this is coming from the guy that picked Denny Hamlin to win the race myself. Because I believe in the speed of the car, I believe in the talent that Denny Hamlin has, but since this whole thing has blown up on the charter side and everything.” Harvick said this on episode number 61 of the Happy Hour podcast.

The former SHR driver went on to add that such a statement by Hamlin could prove detrimental to the team’s morale. “I hate it for Gabehart and the guys on the team because they had been bringing very fast cars to the racetrack, but it blows me away that you would say that you’re not mentally into it after the race. You never wanna point the finger at something like that, even if you’re not mentally into it.”

Now, it’s fair to say Denny Hamlin can be a controversial figure in NASCAR and often creates a stir with his bold statements. However, in this instance, he felt like his frustration and rant after the Kansas race was misunderstood.

Hamlin comes clean on his post-race interview rant at Kansas Speedway

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The start of the playoffs has been rough on the entire #11 team. Hamlin in particular has gone from a race contender into a survival mode, and this approach isn’t the best one for a driver competing for the title. After the hiccups at Atlanta and Bristol, he finally managed to hit his stride at Bristol but came just short at Kansas, one of his strong race tracks.

Hamlin knows that his team brings out a fast race car every week, but it was frustrating for him to see his pit crew drop the ball at Kansas. But his reaction and frustration that “he wasn’t mentally in it” were misunderstood by the NASCAR community. “I’m in this moment, in this bubble, right? And I’m trying to make sense of my day and the results and what we could’ve done better. When they ask about my mentality, while this is all going on. I’m like, mentally, I’m not in it; I’m rattled in the moment because I’m angry about how our day went.” He said this on the Actions Detrimental podcast.

Eight points above the cutline going into Talladega weekend, Denny Hamlin isn’t in the worst spot. All he needs to do is regroup with his team and strive for a winning outcome. Because top 5 or top 10s aren’t going to help him win the championship.