Denny Hamlin reflects on falling short of Championship 4 at Martinsville
Another year where Denny Hamlin has fallen short of his ultimate goal. So, how did the Joe Gibbs Racing driver take it this time? Well, the NASCAR veteran has been around once or twice, he knows what it is like to come up so close, but not close enough.
Denny Hamlin will once again not make the Championship 4. His 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick has a chance to make Hamlin a championship owner. But as far as driving goes, Hamlin has to wait another year.
On his Actions Detrimental podcast , Hamlin opened up about Martinsville. He took a rebuilt car from the rear to a P5 finish. It just wasn't enough.
"Yeah I mean at that point, I was pushing every lap as hard as I could," Denny Hamlin explained. "I never took a lap off 100%. And for inside baseball, some drivers do take laps off. You know there's times you get into long green flag runs, you've got no pressure in front, you can't see the person behind you and you're like, 'Whew... let me just make a corner here and not white knuckle this thing around.' I didn't have any of those yesterday, I was trying for all I could. Trying to make lap time.
"Again, I just didn't have the 'it' that I needed. I didn't have that extra gear that I could just go to to run faster. So, at that point what I try to do is run at 99% and try to keep myself, I wanted to try to gain any spot I could. I had the damnedest time trying to get around Austin Cindric who had stayed out. ... But at that point I'm just you know, trying to grind this thing out, and try to get a caution to maybe chaos and choose on a restart and I find myself with a chance."
Denny Hamlin continued later in the podcast. One moment you're on top and then the next, when you're in the playoffs, you're out. It's a tough system to break through.
"You know you have that stretch in the middle of the summer you're thinking, 'We're right there on the verge, we're one of the top teams.' But the win and you're in just changes everything and it certainly, those good consistent finishes is definitely what it does not reward." said Hamlin.
Another year and Hamlin misses out on the championship. Have his championship-contending days left him already?
