Denny Hamlin Reflects on “A Day With No Mistakes” in Nashville

Despite Denny Hamlin having secured his playoff berth with the win in Kansas, this year, despite him running, for the most part in most races, in contention for the win, he simply hasn’t been able to convert them into a trip to the victory lane. This was once again the case in the recent Cup race at Nashville Superspeedway where Hamlin showed incredible pace and promise, but when the checkered flag dropped, it wasn’t him but Ross Chastain who won the race.

After the race, Hamlin opened up on his day and his failed pursuit of a second win this year in the regular season. The #11 driver once again pointed to the aspect of every racecar on the track being very close and hence, passing becoming increasingly difficult.

Denny Hamlin believes the car was not fast enough to the win

Following the conclusion of the race, as the Trackhouse Racing team celebrated in the background, Denny Hamlin had a word with the press. The JGR driver was then asked what went wrong for him towards the end of the race. Especially since the reporter believed that it could have been him celebrating at victory lane.

Hamlin responded, “The field is so close, everyone is running the same time. It’s real hard to get track position. I think we really had a third-place car. The entire race I thought the 19 was better. The 1 obviously came on strong there at the end. It’s all we had with our FedEx Toyota.”

“This is not the (indiscernible) day, it was a day with no mistakes. We gave ourselves a chance. Didn’t have quite a fast enough car to go and contend.”

Denny Hamlin’s mother was seen wearing a t-shirt made out of his quote

After the race, Hamlin took to Twitter to share a picture of his mother wearing a t-shirt that had the quote – “We Almost Always Almost Win.” Along with the picture, Hamlin had mentioned, “Mom called it.” Thereby indicated his third-place finish at Nashville, and how he could have won the race. But just almost just could not end up winning it.

Mom called it pic.twitter.com/UrmTgi1CT8

— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) June 26, 2023

Hamlin had won stage 2 of the race. However, things only seem to have gone downhill from there. After the start of stage 3, it felt as if Hamlin’s Toyota just did not have the power or the momentum to keep his lead. He was soon passed by Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, who then went on to win the race with a chasing Martin Truex Jr behind him.

The win for Chastain meant that he made it into the playoffs. Although, Hamlin would not have to worry much, since he too is secured for the next phase of the season.