Denny Hamlin just won the All-Star Race at Dover in a dominant fashion, so why is he still losing sleep over one very specific problem? Because that problem has already cost him at least two wins this year, and, more painfully, a championship last year. So speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio after Dover, it’s clear why Hamlin didn’t end up enjoying the hype train.
“Speed-wise, if we’re turning left and we are on an oval. We are there and we’re really fast. So, no weaknesses other than my restarts. I’ve got to work on that,” Hamlin admitted. “That’s something I have got to get better at because these races definitely come down to the shootouts at times. Getting better in the short run, continuing to get better on the road courses.”
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Denny Hamlin and his gripes with race restarts are well known.
At Kansas, racing in the AdventHealth 400, Hamlin seemed set to celebrate, as he paced the field for 131 of 274 laps. When there were just three laps left, he had just retaken the lead and was half a lap from the white flag. But then Cody Ware blew a tire and spun on Lap 266, sending the race to overtime. Kyle Larson shot to the inside and took the lead, Tyler Reddick swept around both of them, and Hamlin, caught in the middle lane with no good options, fell to fourth.
After the race, a frustrated Hamlin didn’t mince words: “Cody Ware, six laps down, wrecking… I don’t know. Just add it up.”
He was equally self-critical as he is now: “I fell for the same move that the 5 got me a couple years ago when I was on the inside. I gotta learn from those mistakes.”
Texas came next as Hamlin began fourth, but took the lead from polesitter Carson Hocevar within 20 laps. But a late caution set up a four-lap sprint that Elliott won by 0.407 seconds.
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Hamlin was dejected again: “Props to the 9 team… I felt it was going to be close if it went green. But I didn’t have great restarts today.”
So, he might have won the Monster Mile to take home a million-dollar check, but he was on the verge of losing it all. He further revealed that he was facing trouble at the race restarts and was unable to get the desired speed out of turns 1 and 2.
“I wasn’t great on restarts when I was up front. My restarts in the back were really good, but up front I just couldn’t quite get through Turns 1 and 2 with the speed that I needed.”
Still, leading from pole, he navigated a caution-heavy afternoon, absorbed a late challenge from JGR teammate Chase Briscoe, who took the lead away from Hamlin on the final restart of the afternoon, made the decisive pass on Lap 322, and pulled away cleanly. He now has three consecutive wins at the same venue in the NextGen era.
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But the same issue still cropped up, and it has to sting nonetheless because Hamlin remembers what happened at Phoenix last year, even as he entered as the title favorite, positioned to win the Cup he has chased his entire career. An overtime restart erased it.
But that doesn’t mean that he has only criticism to offer about his run this year so far.
The silver lining for Denny Hamlin
The restart issue aside, Hamlin is as confident about his overall trajectory as he has been in years.
“If we go back to kind of like the last six or seven races of last year. Now, to the first 12 or so this year. It’s, like, competitively my best 20-race stretch in my history of racing.
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“…Getting better in the short run, continuing to get better on the road courses. I felt like I’ve had a solid COTA and a solid Watkins Glen. You know, we are putting it all together right now, and certainly we are happy about where things are at,” Hamlin said.
The fact that Hamlin still remains confident must be welcome news among his fans. It was not long ago that they were afraid he’d drop out of the sport. After his loss to Kyle Larson in 2025, Hamlin was heartbroken and doubtful about his NASCAR career.
The situation only worsened as he lost his father before the end of the year. Even though he returned to the Cup Series, Hamlin warned that he would need a considerable amount of time to get back up to his dominant pace from 2025. Fortunately for Hamlin and his fans, he is faring far better than he did last year at this point.
Denny Hamlin has 438 points after 12 races this season, whereas he only had 346 points at this juncture last year. The significance of his regular-season points matters more this year because of the new Chase format. And the way things stand currently, Hamlin will have a competitive advantage over other contenders if he stays in P2 or wins the Regular Season title.
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