A clutch win, a new mind-set and Denny Hamlin’s hunt for his first NASCAR Cup Series title
The situation became pretty clear as the race unfolded last week. Win the Bluegreen Vacations 500, and Denny Hamlin would secure his spot in the Championship 4. Anything else, and the trek to Homestead-Miami Speedway for Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 would merely be a consolation race at the end of a a turnaround season.
Hamlin responded by leading for 142 of the final 146 laps in Phoenix to secure the win and punch his ticket into the Championship 4 alongside fellow Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. as well as Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick.
Hamlin’s quest for his first NASCAR Cup Series title remains alive.
“We were in a win-or-go-home situation,” Hamlin said Thursday. “I think we proved last weekend that we can step up to the plate when it really, really counts.”
His place in the top four cements a stellar one-year turnaround for Hamlin.
Just one season ago, he failed to win a race and was knocked out of title contention in the Round of 16. That came after sixth-place finishes in 2017 and 2016.
“I think Denny just made up his mind that he was going to go and change things this year,” Gibbs told reporters in Phoenix. “Think about that, how hard that is to do when you don’t win a race the year before.”
The changes started before the season. He has a new crew chief in Chris Gabehart. A new pit crew. New mechanics. A revamped mind-set to put last year behind him.
“A lot of elements,” Hamlin said.
Results arrived at the first race. Hamlin opened the season by winning the Daytona 500. It was the second time he won that race in his career and his first win since the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 3, 2017.
He dedicated the win to J.D. Gibbs, Joe Gibbs’ eldest son who died a month earlier after battling a degenerative neurological disease.
“I think it was an emotional thing for everybody, our family, our race team, everybody,” Gibbs said. “I really feel like that was a huge part of it.”
A rough four-race stretch midway through the regular season put Hamlin in a bind before he followed up with five more wins— his six victories trailed only Truex this year — and finished in the top five in a field-best 19 of 35 races.
So how did that turnaround happen, going from a winless campaign and the worst single-season results he has ever had to the cusp of potentially claiming his first cup series title?
“Fast cars and hard work,” Hamlin said. “I definitely put in extra extra work this year. A lot of it is any time you do struggle, you have to find yourself somewhere. Just found myself in a good spot.”
Which brings us to Sunday.
Hamlin knows he’s playing with house money. That win in Phoenix last week — “our Homestead,” as he called it — afforded him the opportunity for one more meaningful race this season.
He’s up against three of the most consistent drivers the NASCAR Cup Series has to offer in Busch, Truex and Harvick. All three have won a championship in the last five years — Truex in 2017, Busch in 2015, Harvick in 2014. This is the third consecutive season all three have been part of the Championship 4.
“They’ve been the standard year in and year out,” Hamlin said.
But the big three is not unbeatable. They vividly remember losing to Joey Logano at last year’s championship weekend.
“We got our ass spanked by the new one,” Busch reminisced.
Hamlin has the chance to make it a repeat endeavor.
“It’s motivation, ultimately,” Hamlin said. “I’m racing against the best that have been in this sport for the past five years. A few other guys have won championships, but when you look at the bigger picture, these are the best. No doubt about it. We’ll take a lot of satisfaction in winning.”
This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 3:08 PM.
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