“First Chink in the Armor”: Denny Hamlin Believes Hendrick’s Best Driver This Season Is Loosening His Grip

Although Denny Hamlin would have loved to compete in the championship 4 race this weekend, he unfortunately was knocked out at Martinsville. Instead, it was race winner Ryan Blaney and a rapidly advancing William Byron who took the final two spots ahead of Hamlin.

But despite being out of the game, he recently shared his thoughts regarding the outcome of the final race of the season. While speaking on his podcast, Actions Detrimental, Hamlin brought up the topic of Hendrick Motorsports’ best driver this season based on his overall wins and how he has been losing out on confidence heading into the race where it all matters.

Denny Hamlin mentioned, “To break it down, you know you got Larson, Byron, Bell, and Blaney. I think that we saw the first chink in the armor with Byron at Martinsville. Like I genuinely think he was nervous. It’s very easy to get panicked. Been there 1000 times…”

He added, “So this is going to be his first go around at the Final Four. I think he’s going to be nervous. That’s just my general feel.”

Despite him being nervous for his first time competing at the season finale, he technically does hold the highest number of wins this season with six wins, 20 top-10s, and 14 top-5s. Keeping that into consideration, there could be a good chance for him compared to the others heading into Phoenix Raceway.

Denny Hamlin believes Kyle Larson might be the fastest at Phoenix

Speaking further, Hamlin shared his thoughts on the other Hendrick driver in the championship four. He said, “I think Larson will be … he’s been here. Now the year that Larson won the championship at Phoenix, he was by far the worst car in the field of the four and then you know, had some good circumstances workout.”

According to the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Larson is likely to race without any inhibitions and be himself at Phoenix. Hamlin also believes that the HMS driver will not make significant changes to the way he puts his car on the edge, which is a high-risk, high-reward strategy.

Adding that if Larson races as freely as he usually does during practice and qualifying, he has a good chance of being the fastest, and Hamlin wouldn’t be surprised if Larson ends up being the fastest after practice.