Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 crew have been inconsistent over the past couple of months, particularly through the NASCAR Cup Sequence Playoffs, following a blazing begin to the 2024 marketing campaign.
Whereas the veteran didn’t have a nasty afternoon in Las Vegas this previous weekend, as he completed P8 in Sin Metropolis, Joey Logano’s victory coupled with Hamlin’s P8 end left him 27 factors beneath the cut-line following the race. That’s a number of floor to make up over the following two weeks for Hamlin if he needs to make the Championship 4.
“Yeah, simply not a clear day,” Hamlin stated, concerning his P8 run in Las Vegas. “That definitely form of sums it up. You’ll have that. We’ll simply do the most effective we are able to to get the most effective end.
“I believed Chris [Gabehart] did a fantastic job attempting to get some type of end. As soon as we misplaced the monitor place early, he was doing all the things he might to attempt to get it again via some alternate technique. It goes lengthy there, we fall again to the again. Simply a part of it.”
Throughout the newest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin elaborated on his efficiency at Las Vegas, in addition to the playoffs as a complete, revealing his disappointment in the way in which his No. 11 Toyota crew has carried out over the past couple of weeks.
“I’m simply form of upset in our playoffs,” Hamlin said. “Definitely, it hasn’t been clear, by any means, particularly on the race tracks the place we all know that we’ve obtained an opportunity to contend. It’s simply been a tough go at it for us. Kansas and Vegas, two races — you recognize, you solely get so many of those regular type, cookie-cutter race tracks that we’ve obtained in our playoff schedule, and we’ve had one in all them, which was Bristol, and our pit crew was nice there. We had a flawless day. We ran upfront, stayed up there all through the phases and obtained a fantastic end, however apart from that, it’s simply been a very robust go at it.
“We’ve had crashes, we’ve had all form of issues all through these playoffs. I informed you on the way in which residence, ‘Frankly, I’m amazed we’re nonetheless in it. I’m amazed we’re nonetheless a part of the playoffs.’ So, it simply has not gone effectively.”
As a minimum, Denny Hamlin can have an opportunity because of the approach the schedule shakes out. Homestead and Martinsville have each been sort to him over the course of his NASCAR Cup Sequence profession, and he’ll need to have just a little little bit of luck over the following two weeks if he’s going to race for the championship at Phoenix.
