Denny Hamlin: 'I Was Trying to Get 20 Points' at Atlanta
09/08/2024 09:18 PM
By Seth Eggert, Associate Editor
Several factors before and during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway had Denny Hamlin aiming for just 20-points throughout the day.
The issues for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver started in qualifying. As he made his lap around the 1.54-mile track the Playoff driver's engine was missing. As a result the No. 11 Mavis Tire Toyota Camry XSE qualified last on the grid, the worst of the 16-driver playoff grid.
During the Quaker State 400 available at Walmart, Hamlin cruised in the rear of the field. The Chesterfield, VA native anticipated a typical superspeedway crash that never came, although several playoff drivers, including Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, and Martin Truex, Jr. did run into trouble.
In overtime, Hamlin lined up outside the top-20 with B.J. McLeod, J.J. Yeley, and others poised to follow the veteran driver through the field. However, the 43-year-old continued to hold back.
Hamlin ultimately couldn't avoid the final lap mayhem and was credited with a 24th-place finish, and earned 13-points, seven shy of his goal.
"I thought there would be a bigger wreck, trying to play the numbers, I thought there would be more incidents than there were," Hamlin admitted. "There were still some playoff guys in some stuff, but overall, I don't care about what anyone else did, I was trying to get 20-points which is a mid-high teen finish. Just trying to get through this round, that's it."
Hamlin wasn't the only driver that started at the rear of the field. Two of his teammates, Ty Gibbs and Truex started at the rear after plug wires were changed on their engines, the same fix that was made post-qualifying to Hamlin's. Both Gibbs and Truex went on to score Stage points in Stage 1. An ill-handling racecar kept Hamlin from making the same run forward.
"The track is so narrow that it gets logjammed it's hard to say that you can going to march right up to the front," Hamlin explained. "Our balance was not great the first half of the race. (We) finally got it pretty good there at the end but obviously we had already made our bed just to avoid wrecks."
Hamlin now sits 11th on the Playoff Grid, one point ahead of the cutline, currently held by Gibbs, as the series heads to Watkins Glen Int'l. In 17 starts at the road course he has one victory, six top-five and nine top-10 finishes. Hamlin's best finish in the NextGen at the 2.45-mile road course was a runner-up last year.
The Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen Int'l is scheduled for Sunday, September 15 at 3:00 p.m. ET on the USA Network, which will utilize a 'Radio-style' broadcast. The race will also be broadcast on both the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
