The opening weekend of the 2024 Cup Series playoffs did not go well for Denny Hamlin. The veteran driver waded into the Peach State riding turbulence from the incomplete charter negotiations with NASCAR and found his troubles extended into the race track. His No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE qualified in last place, a whole two seconds slower than pole-winner Michael McDowell’s Mustang.
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Starting from 38th place, Hamlin then opted to execute a strategy that would ultimately lead to his downfall. Atlanta being a superspeedway style track, almost guarantees race-ending crashes. The driver assumed that he could just steer at the back of the field for the majority of the laps and wait for such a crash to occur in front of him. The idea was that he could then race ahead unscathed.
Unfortunately for him, only three cautions were given for on-track incidents till the final lap. This caused his strategy to fail and he ultimately found himself caught in a crash. He finished the race in 24th place but that was just about the best position he ran all day. He had an average running position of 30.87 and took the blame upon himself when speaking to the press in his post-race interviews.
He said, “I thought there would be a bigger wreck. Just trying to play the numbers. Figured there would be more incidents. I mean, there were still some playoff guys in some stuff. But overall, I just didn’t care about what anyone else did. Just tried to get 20 points, which is a mid-high team finish.” Stumbling in the very first race of the playoffs has put the No. 11 in an extreme corner.
Hamlin finds himself on the playoff elimination bubble after Atlanta
Just a few weeks ago, Hamlin was a contender for the regular season champion with a big cushion on playoff points under his head. An L2 level penalty that was issued for breaking the engine inspection rule brought his playoff points tally by 10 points in August.
The damage and the poor result in Atlanta have now translated to him being just two points above the elimination line. He next travels to Watkins Glen and Bristol with the hopes of steadying his ship. He said about the upcoming weeks, “The biggest thing about the round is just us trying not to finish 25th or worse at any of these tracks.”
“If we do that, we are going to be fine. I don’t even know where we finish but obviously, we are going to go into the next two weeks and perform good.” He won the pole and finished as the runner-up at the Glen last season and won at Bristol earlier this year. He has a good chance of victory at both venues. But then, he might want to avoid such risky strategies in a crucial stage of the championship run.
