“S**T Happens”: Denny Hamlin’s Veteran Crew Chief Masterfully Salvaged Pride Despite Unfortunate Phoenix Struggles

Going into the race weekend at Phoenix, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was primed and among the favorites to win the event. Starting from the pole position during the race, Hamlin was among the quickest drivers on the racetrack, along with his teammates driving Toyotas. However, despite being the prime contender in the race, the #11 coming off a restart after the stage 2 break spun his car around, trying to compete for the lead against Tyler Reddick.

For the most part, the drivers raced cleanly and thus avoided any major incidents or wrecks. However, with the last stage in sight, everyone doubled down on their efforts, and this resulted in a streak of cautions and restarts. This disrupted the momentum and rhythm Hamlin was trying to create at the top of the field. Eventually, they forced him into making a mistake that cost him his first win of the season.

Chris Gabehart tried his best to keep Hamlin’s spirit up despite a major setback

It was the second restart in quick succession for Hamlin, who was battling with Tyler Reddick and Martin Truex Jr for the lead. In a desperate attempt to hold on to his position against the aggressors, Hamlin stretched, testing his luck with his car, and got loose, coming onto turn 1. The next thing you know, he goes spinning inside the racetrack, narrowly missing the oncoming car of Brad Keselowski.

After managing to finish in third place in the first two stages, a self-inflicted wreck surely washed out any chances for Hamlin to win the race. However, his crew chief, Gabehart, knew that the race was far from done and points were still up for grabs. With Hamlin returning to the pit stop for changing tires, this is when the veteran crew chief got on the radio and said, “Okay Well Shit happens. We didn’t hit anything. We’re going to learn how to pass some cars at Phoenix.”

And this trick sure worked for the #11 JGR driver. After restarting the race outside the top-20 position, he soon started to make his way up the field. Knowing that he had a good race car, Hamlin made a final push in the dying moments of the race and bagged himself a respectful P11 finish. He sure will be kicking himself for making the mistake in the first place that cost him a potential win, but he would be glad to churn out the results at the end of the race.

Knowing how Hamlin is hard on himself for not getting things right on track. In this instance at Phoenix, he was not too disappointed with the end result.

Denny Hamlin shares the positives from the Phoenix race

Detailing the events on the racetrack, Hamlin admitted that he had a better car to run with and could have finished in the top three positions had he not suffered the spin. Speaking to Frontstrech, he said, “I thought we had a top three car obviously, but there was someone a little bit faster than us at times of the race. It’s not too disappointing because we didn’t run bad so today was about learning.”

“I’m not super disappointed, for sure. Overall, optimistic that we found something that was a little better coming into this racetrack than what we had. So certainly just need to be a smidge better, and I think we’ll be right there,” he further added.

With a feeling of not making the most of his car’s potential at Phoenix, Denny Hamlin will be eager to set the record straight with a win at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend.

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