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Denny Hamlin Confident About Bristol Despite Two Poor Finishes In Round Of 16

by Hunter Thomas September 15, 2024 0 comments

WATKINS GLEN, NY – Denny Hamlin is not having a good time in this year’s NASCAR Playoffs, and on Sunday, the path to the Round of 12 took another big hit in the Go Bowling at The Glen. Despite the adversity, Hamlin feels confident about advancing to the Round of 12 following Bristol Motor Speedway.

Hamlin entered the 2024 NASCAR Playoffs as a six seed, but two races in, and he’s now 13^th in the standings on the outside looking in, trailing Ty Gibbs by six points.

The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran kicked off the Playoffs with the slowest lap in qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He started dead last, and throughout the race, he rode towards the back in an effort to miss the big crashes that superspeedway-style tracks typically produce; however, that strategy backfired. On the final lap of the race, he was caught up in a Turn 4 crash, when his 23XI Racing driver, Bubba Wallace spun, igniting a chain reaction. Hamlin finished 24^th.

Fast forward to Sunday at Watkins Glen International, and Hamlin didn’t qualify well again as he took the green flag in the 22^nd position. Things got much worse, too. On the opening lap, Hamlin had nowhere to go as Kyle Busch spun and other drivers crashed in the Bus Stop. Later, on Lap 48, contact with fellow Playoff contender, Brad Keselowski, sent Hamlin hard into the outside guardrail in Turn 2. Hamlin limped to a 23^rd place finish.

“Great effort by this FedEx Toyota team to keep us in it,” Hamlin said. “Obviously the car is just destroyed, so to finish 23rd – I guess there is a positive. We were certainly in a worst spot most of the day, and luckily, we had some attrition there at the end that helped us out.”

While nothing on the track has gone right for the No. 11 FedEx Toyota team, Hamlin has confidence heading into this upcoming weekend’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, and recent statistics are in his favor. In fact, Hamlin is the defending winner of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, and in March of this year, he won the Food City 500.

“I feel like we can go there and win,” Hamlin said. “We are going to an oval – back to a normal track. We can control our own destiny there.”

The good news for Hamlin is that he’s not in a must-win situation, but he’ll need to outperform Gibbs throughout the three stages.

“Yeah, if you run in the top two or three all day, absolutely,” Hamlin said about advancing to the Round of 12 based on points.”

In the past five races on Bristol’s concrete surface, Hamlin has averaged a finish of 8.2 with a 21^st place finish, two ninth place finishes and two wins.

The Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway will broadcast on USA at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Sept. 21.

Photo Credit: Jennie Mae Lingle/TheFourthTurn.com