Denny Hamlin left New Hampshire knowing a little luck and stronger teamwork might have kept him inside the top ten. Instead, spat with Ty Gibbs and a lack of speed left him in P12 when a cleaner day could have landed him in the top 10.
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Now, Hamlin turns the page to Kansas Speedway. After what he called a few “productive meetings” regarding last week’s dust-up, he enters with a clear head. His numbers at the mile-and-a-half oval are no small feat: an average finish of 12.9 in 34 starts, four wins, and 14 top-fives.
He knows one mistake could undo it all, and he’s intent on avoiding the kind of miscues that have haunted him there before.
He said, “I feel good about it. I feel as though we’ve been super strong here the last four or five years. It’s interesting, this is the one track on the schedule where we just haven’t had a clean race.”
“We’ve had pit road issues, we’ve had mechanical failures, all kind of different things that have derailed us from finishing or winning most of the races we’ve been at here. I’m just praying for a mistake-free race on my end, and if that’s the case, we are going to be in contention like we always are here,” he continued.
Hamlin last won at Kansas in the spring of 2023. A fifth win at the oval would double as the 60th of his Cup career, a milestone he admits would be fitting to capture on a track where he leads all active drivers in victories. He’s placed inside the top ten in seven of his last eight Kansas starts, and NASCAR Insights ranks him no worse than ninth across all five key statistical categories at similar tracks.
This weekend, he’ll roll off from the front row in second, his best starting spot at Kansas in 21 years. His previous high came in the spring of 2016, when he started third before a late-race accident with Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson left him in 37th.
Now, with history and starting position on his side, Hamlin knows Kansas could be the place to both exorcise old demons and add another jewel to his resume.
