Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin’s recent form in the NASCAR Cup Series has not been confidence-inspiring for the #11 team if he plans on challenging for the all-elusive championship title this year. After starting the year off on a high note, Hamlin and the #11 crew seem to have hit a block in performance right when the team finds themselves in the playoffs.
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Hamlin’s outing this weekend at Kansas came undone due to repeated issues on the pit road with the #11 crew. The team suffered multiple setbacks as Hamlin came into the pits, and also suffered from a loose wheel at one point during the race.
Elaborating on how frustrating such operational issues can be at this point of the season, especially after the recent slump in performance, the Virginia native did not mince any words while describing the same.
“Worst day ever. I don’t know, I’ve had some pretty bad days but yeah just horrible day and came out 15th and 20th, and then we had a lose wheel, just terrible. We should’ve won the race, we had the fastest car but every time we get to the top 3, the caution comes out we restart 15th,” Hamlin said in a post-race interview.
Denny Hamlin says his pit crew knows “today was one of their worst days ever. Just got to work to clean it up.”#NASCAR #HollywoodCasino400 pic.twitter.com/XpU35m6NEQ
— Daniel McFadin (@danielmcfadin) September 29, 2024
“Can’t show how fast your car is when you’re back of the pack. All you can do is just keep making positions back up to the front over and over and over and eventually, you just run out of laps and someone else wins,” he added further when asked about his eventual P8 finish.
After the opening race of the Round of 12 this weekend, Hamlin now finds himself 11 points over the cutoff line heading into Talladega Superspeedway, an event notorious for its unpredictable nature. A stroke of bad luck for Hamlin at the behemoth 2.5-mile-long oval next weekend could jeopardize his run in the playoffs this season.
With this round of the postseason rounding out at the Charlotte Roval road course, the #11 JGR crew will have to be in survival mode until they can find themselves in victory lane once again. Hamlin‘s average finish at both upcoming venues in the Next Gen era sits at P16 and P25 respectively, further painting a grim picture surrounding his playoff hopes.
It remains to be seen if he and the team can rebound in the remaining two races.
