Denny Hamlin registered his most impressive performance in what has been an overall lackluster NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the 43-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Hamlin led the race on three occasions for a total of 21 laps, and in the closing laps, he was in the mix for the race win. Ultimately, he came up shy of the win in a three-way battle with Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney.
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RESULTS: NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead
It wasn’t a win, but Hamlin’s third-place finish was his best result since a runner-up finish at Richmond Raceway in August.
While it was a good run, Hamlin was upset that he was unable to capitalize and score the win, which would have automatically advanced him to the Championship 4 field at Phoenix Raceway.
“I wasn’t really great on the short run all day, but they gave me everything I needed there to get the lead, and I just wasn’t able to hold it,” Hamlin said on pit road after the race.
While Hamlin, like Reddick and Blaney, led one of the final three laps and was in contention for the win on the win on the last lap, lost the lead, he’s not quite sure what he could have done to maintain the lead over the final couple of circuits of the race.
“Well, I’m not really sure,” Hamlin said. “Tried to cover all lanes, but just couldn’t quite get off the corner as good as I needed to there on that short run. [The] Short run wasn’t my specialty all day, obviously. Either way, controlling the race with two to go, you [have] to try to find a way to finish it. Just didn’t.”
The difference between winning and finishing third on Sunday was incredibly stark when it came to the championship implications for Hamlin. Had he won, Hamlin would be heading into Martinsville Speedway this weekend knowing he is set to compete for a championship in two weeks regardless of what transpires, instead Hamlin finds himself 18 points below the cutline and likely needs to pull off a win at the 0.526-mile short track in order to keep his quest of hoisting his first NASCAR Cup Series championship alive in 2024.
On the surface, Hamlin’s Playoff hopes resting on a clutch performance at Martinsville Speedway seems like a decent situation as the driver has five Martinsville clocks chiming at his house every hour. However, Hamlin hasn’t scored a win at Martinsville since the 2015 season.
That’s not to say Hamlin hasn’t been good at Martinsville. He most certainly has been. Since his last win at the track, Hamlin has piled up nine top-five finishes and has led a staggering 1,136 laps over his last 18 starts at the paper clip.
However, Martinsville has served as a heartbreaking venue for Hamlin’s championship hopes over the last couple of seasons.
In 2022, Hamlin was sitting exactly where he needed to be as he ran fourth, and was well above the Playoff cutline on the final lap of the race. Then, Ross Chastain decided to flat-foot the gas pedal in Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap. As Chastain rocketed around the track trailing sparks, and smoke behind him, he surged past Hamlin at the finish line. Hamlin was eliminated from the Playoffs, and the Hail Melon was born.
Last season, Hamlin called his shot on the Actions Detrimental Podcast and said he would author a walk-off win at Martinsville to secure his Championship 4 berth. While he had another great race, as he led a race-high 156 laps, Hamlin’s car just didn’t quite have the speed it needed to contend with Ryan Blaney in the closing laps as Blaney got around Hamlin, and ultimately Aric Almirola for the race win.
As Hamlin was bounced from the Playoffs, Blaney would go on to win his first career NASCAR Cup Series championship a week later at Phoenix Raceway. That could have been Hamlin. But the champion could have been Hamlin for nearly two decades now. The 54-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner is seemingly always among the favorites for the championship, but then seemingly always faces a heartbreaking end to his championship bid.
Now, he heads into Martinsville Speedway with one last shot to save his 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship campaign. While he knows he has a shot to win, Hamlin isn’t calling his shot this time around.
“I mean, yeah, it’s another opportunity. Certainly, you’re not out of it till they throw the checkered flag at Martinsville,” Hamlin stated.
