For Denny Hamlin, the Brickyard 400 carries the same significance as the Daytona 500 does for Kyle Busch. Both former teammates have been chasing these big NASCAR wins for years, yet luck has kept them empty-handed. With the famed race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway just days away, Hamlin is determined to finally bag it anyhow.
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For now, the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing ace carries an average finish of 14.6 at Indy from 16 starts, and has finished five races in the top-five and eight in the top-10. Fresh off his Dover win, Hamlin reflected on his hunger to conquer the Brickyard.
He said, “I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to go back-to-back (wins) so bad. That’s a track that I’ve just come so freaking close to winning. And I just want to cross off all the major racetracks on our schedule.
“It’s going to be hard. I mean, we’re going to have to qualify well. There’s just so many things that are going to have to go really well for us to win that race.”
Hamlin knows Indianapolis Motor Speedway is unlike any other venue on the calendar. Raw speed alone doesn’t cut through the field here, and the weight of its history makes the challenge even greater.
But despite all the hurdles, Hamlin admitted to being “Highly, highly, highly motivated. All I can hope is that something happens this week that derails everything, and then I’ll do better.”
Last year at IMS, Hamlin started strong by qualifying on the outside pole, but an accident relegated him to a disappointing P32 finish. His best results in the Brickyard 400 race came in 2018, 2014, and 2008, where he charged to third place after starting 10th, 27th, and 23rd, respectively.
Already a back-to-back winner this season at Martinsville and Darlington, Hamlin could repeat the feat with a win at Indianapolis. In 20 starts this year, as he skipped Mexico due to the birth of his son, Hamlin has won four races and sits fourth in the standings, trailing leader Chase Elliott by 39 points.
