The first two rounds of the Cup Series playoffs did not favor Denny Hamlin, yet he made it through mostly unscathed. Now, he has a big opportunity ahead of him.
These rounds were littered with potential stumbling blocks for Hamlin, a driver who grew up racing on short tracks. He had to take on two road courses — not one of Hamlin's specialties — a superspeedway, a mini-superspeedway, an intermediate track, and a short track.
In blunt terms, it was four wild cards and two tracks where Hamlin consistently contends for wins. Not a winning formula.
"Oval track racing is what I grew up doing, and it was my specialty," Hamlin told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio after the Roval.
"And as these playoffs sort of evolved in NASCAR to be a little bit more of road course racing, superspeedway, and then the traditional ovals, I'm thinking, 'Well, this is not good for my style of driving.'"
How did Hamlin perform? He started slowly and battled adversity.
The race at Atlanta featured Hamlin struggling early with a car that wouldn't handle the way he needed. He then raced in the rear of the field before getting collected in a last-lap crash. He finished 24th.
One week later, Hamlin finished 23rd at Watkins Glen after getting involved in an opening-lap crash started by other drivers.
These two weeks put Hamlin in a hole, but he recovered at Bristol by finishing fourth. Hamlin then finished eighth at Kansas, another one of his best tracks.
He followed this up by finishing 10th at Talladega, mostly by luck. He sustained damage in an incident and fell out of the draft.
This proved beneficial as Hamlin was one mile away from the record-breaking 28-car crash that collected other playoff drivers. He gained about 30 points by avoiding this massive incident.
Last weekend's race at the Roval featured Hamlin's car sustaining damage yet again, this time after a collision with Tyler Reddick in Turn 7. This bent something in the rear of Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota and affected the handling. He ultimately finished 15th before NASCAR disqualified Alex Bowman.
Quiet on the 11 radio after this, but Gabehart tells @dennyhamlin they are working on a plan if necessary. pic.twitter.com/rdeZ5ywW0W
— Joe Gibbs Racing (@JoeGibbsRacing) October 13, 2024
Hamlin was able to advance to the Round of 8 for the ninth time in the elimination era.
"We made it through the carnage of the schedule and now I just need to do what we do on these types of racetracks these next four races," Hamlin said.
Hamlin has reason to be confident heading into the Round of 8. The schedule features three tracks where he has numerous wins.
First up is Las Vegas Motor Speedway, an intermediate track where Hamlin has one career Cup win. He has also finished 11th or better in the last four races at the Nevada track.
After Vegas is Homestead-Miami Speedway. Hamlin has three wins at this track, although they were in the Gen 6 era. His best finish at the intermediate track in the Next Gen era is seventh.
Finally, there is Martinsville Speedway. This short track is one where Hamlin has consistently delivered strong performances while moving through playoff rounds. He has five wins, 19 top-five finishes, and 25 top-10s in 37 career starts. Three of these top-five finishes were in the last four races at Martinsville.
On paper, the upcoming round is perfectly set up for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to lock up a spot in the Championship 4 for the first time in the Next Gen era.
Hamlin and his team just have to rise to the occasion.
"Now we race," Hamlin said.
