“King of Short Tracks” – Denny Hamlin at His Best Has NASCAR’s Worst Feature Mastered

Will it finally be a title-winning year for Denny Hamlin? We can’t say for sure, but the Joe Gibbs Racing star is quite confident about his chances. And why wouldn’t he be? The 43-year-old came out victorious at the Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series. This is his third race win of the year and it has come on one of the shorter tracks on the calendar. Evidently, Hamlin has been doing well on tracks that are a mile or less in length. So, it wasn’t lomg before he dubbed the king of short tracks as a result.

Denny Hamlin oozes confidence after Dover victory

His previous two wins came at Bristol and Richmond, so it’s understandable why people would think that way. It happened at the post-race press conference at Dover when one of the reporters asked Hamlin if his multiple short track wins made him the “king of short tracks”. He also asked about what the driver thought of his chances at Kansas next weekend. The 43-year-old’s answer was one that oozed confidence and perhaps was even a bit cocky.

“I’m not gonna call my shot just yet. I need to soak this victory up first, but I mean…I’m optimistic (about Kansas). I’ve said it a million times, every seven days I can win and just, that is so hard to come by. There’s probably legit four, maybe five people that can do that just because of the team they’re with, they’re good enough. They’re good at all types of tracks, and we’re one of those. So…I mean I feel good about every track that we go to.”

However, even the dominant Hamlin has his weaknesses, it seems, as he dissected his one shortfall. “The only thing that frustrates me is that I’m not getting results at Superspeedways where I used to have a big influence on the finish and now I don’t simply because of how the draft works. Shorter kind of road courses I still got work to do there but if we are turning left, I like my chances,” he said.

Road courses are a menace to every NASCAR driver for some reason, but Denny Hamlin, being so confident on ovals, surely is a sign of worry for his competitors. Plus, this is the Joe Gibbs Racing star’s best-ever start to a Cup Series season.

Will this finally be the year of the #11 car?

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Last year, many people believed that it was the 43-year-old’s last chance of winning the Cup Series championship. He was in fine form and was winning races consistently. So when he was eliminated in the round of 8, some thought that it was Hamlin’s last push to become a champion. Well, he just proved everybody wrong. With the victory at Dover, the driver of the #11 car has earned 3 wins in the first 11 races, matching his best-ever start to a season.

If the veteran can repeat his 2023 race-winning performance at the Kansas Motor Speedway next weekend, it will be the best he has ever been in the first 12 races of the year. But that does not guarantee a championship, and Denny Hamlin knows that. What is good for him is that there are multiple short-track and mile-long race tracks in the playoffs, including the championship race. If his form has been anything to go by, he truly has been a master of these tracks this year so far.

It will be interesting to see how the season progresses for the driver of the #11 car. Will he finally be able to bag that elusive Cup Series championship, or is this the final opportunity? Let us know your thoughts.