Quite tangibly, 2023 seems to be different for Denny Hamlin. If the first three races of the playoffs are anything to go by, this could really be the best chance for the JGR driver to get that elusive Cup Series championship. This is something the driver has admitted himself and what NASCAR veteran Kyle Petty opened up about in a recent conversation with NBC.
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The analyst predicted that there is no driver this season that has really challenged the #11 driver for the win in the playoffs, with all bad results coming from self-inflicted situations. The veteran also highlighted one aspect that can really harm Hamlin, something that has also affected his playoff chances in the past.
Kyle Petty reveals the only weakness that can hold back Hamlin this year
Stating that the #11 car has not been outrun on the track during the first three races this postseason, Petty named a familiar factor that could come back to haunt Hamlin this year.
“His only weakness is Pit Road; finding it, getting off of it, leaving his pits, getting into his pit, speeding, that’s his only weakness. If he can clean that up, he could walk off like we saw Tony Stewart do a few years ago. He could come through these playoffs and never be touched because I don’t think anybody’s laid a glove on him yet.”
Petty went as far as to claim that this might really be the last and the best chance for Hamlin to contend for a championship, considering the run he has been on this season,
“Listen, if he doesn’t win this year, go ahead and mark it down, he’s never going to win, because he’s in that place in his head that he can take it all this year and take it big.”
Denny Hamlin’s swagger could take him all the way this year
Petty also expressed how he has seen Hamlin choke in the past and not come up with answers, getting bogged down in press conferences easily, something that has not been the case this year.
“How many times have we seen Denny get down and have the best car in a playoff situation and all of a sudden, to be honest, choke? We’ve seen it year after year after year.”
“The Denny Hamlin that stepped out of those cars is not the Denny Hamlin that steps out today. He does have that swagger. Why that confidence at this age, at this point? Maybe it’s the 50-plus wins, maybe it’s all the stuff that he’s done with 23XI. He’s shown himself in some ways that I can branch out and be more than just who I was, I can be somebody different.”
Petty did state that this new-found edge to Hamlin could provide that necessary push needed to take him all the way after several close and unsuccessful runs for the championship in the past.
