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Denny Hamlin Calls His Title Chances ‘Unrealistic for Sure’
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- Denny Hamlin Calls His Title Chances ‘Unrealistic for Sure’
Denny Hamlin started from the pole at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, but he said his day came down to a first stage that cost him all his track position.
A Stage 1 Call That Backfired
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver stayed out while most of the field pitted during the first stage. He lost track position, scored no stage points and had to restart Stage 2 at the tail.
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"The story of the Chase where we just didn't capitalize on the speed that we had, and you know, it came down to the first stage," Hamlin said after the race. "That was an absolute killer for us. Obviously, our strategy did not work out in this thing."
"It's just I had no tires left, and we lost all of our track position. And then got to start Stage 2 at the tail, because there was a caution that just was poorly timed for us," he added.
Hamlin said he expected crew chief Chris Gayle to call him in.
"Yeah, I don't know. I saw everyone pitting, and I was waiting on the time to get called. I thought he was just waiting late, maybe running long," Hamlin said.
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"But when we were about 40 left to go in the stage, I realized we're gonna go the whole way. At that point, we made our bed, and it just was a dirty old, stinky bed, and nobody wanted to be in it," he added.
Kyle Larson made the same call and also scored no Stage 1 points. Larson fell a lap down in Stage 1 and finished ninth.
Hamlin worked his way back but also had damage after a Lap 216 spin with teammate Christopher Bell . Joey Logano had made contact with Bell going into Turn 1.
"We just fought for track position. It took all day just to get it back, and then, obviously, the damage didn't help at all either," Hamlin said. "So it's just a tough day, but it was kind of a microcosm of the last couple of weeks."
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Why Hamlin Says the Title Is Out of Reach
Hamlin finished sixth. He is third in the standings , 70 points behind Larson, with one race left.
He was asked if he still has a chance.
"Yeah, it's unrealistic for sure. You know it needed to be in the 40s, something like that, to be somewhat viable," Hamlin said.
"But we'll go there and do the dog-and-pony show midweek and act like we can do it, but we didn't capitalize. It's not a Chase where we capitalized and certainly did not execute to our best ability," he added.
Hamlin also said after the race that the team did not gain enough to make it realistic. The most a driver can score in one race is 76 points.
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The NASCAR season ends Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Hamlin is in his 21st full-time Cup season, all with JGR, and has never won a Cup title.
He also co-owns 23XI Racing , the motorsports team he founded with Michael Jordan and Curtis Polk.
