Denny Hamlin has not been bad in the Chase. He has not been himself, either, and he knows it.
The No. 1 seed in the NASCAR Cup Series Chase goes to Kansas Speedway on Sunday, one point behind series leader Kyle Larson. He has finished 18th at Darlington Raceway, ninth at World Wide Technology Raceway and eighth at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“I need to get my mojo back. I need to get a weekend where we lead laps and win stages and to feel like good about where we’re at.”
Hamlin said it Monday on his podcast, Actions Detrimental.The 45-year-old is chasing his first championship in his 21st full-time season, and he is one of the most recognizable figures in American motorsports.
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The margin is thin, and he is not comfortable with how he got here.
“This is probably my best and favorite racetrack in Kansas. I feel very fortunate I’m one point back, given how we’ve performed. We can’t continue to perform this way. 37 or 35 [points] a race is not enough.”
“I’m going to have to have better weeks than what I have here. If not, we’re just going to whittle our way down the standings little by little, but that’s not what I intend on doing.”
Kansas Is Where He Wants to Be
The schedule helps. Hamlin has four wins, 16 top-fives and 18 top-10s in 36 Kansas starts, and he called the 1.5-mile track his best and favorite.
He nearly won there in April. Hamlin led 131 laps and was a few hundred yards from the white flag when a caution flew. Tyler Reddick took the win instead, his fifth of the season for Hamlin’s own 23XI Racing team.
The Darlington race is the one that still stings. A slow pit stop and contact with Michael McDowell late in the Southern 500 cost him a likely top 10. That result also cost him the points lead he carried out of the regular season.
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Since then, the speed has been quiet rather than absent. He led 68 laps at Darlington but none at Gateway or Bristol, two tracks where he has won before.
The Hollywood Casino 400 goes green Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network. Kansas will be a chance for Hamlin to rebound with the intension of getting not just his mojo back, but the points lead once again. For Hamlin, sitting at the top of the standings is a feeling of comfort he will look to regain.
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