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Denny Hamlin Brought Out The Beast In Him And Makes HMS Teammate Pay for Chase Elliott’s Painful Blow
Denny Hamlin Brought Out The Beast In Him And Makes HMS Teammate Pay for Chase Elliott’s Painful Blow
Overturning his disappointments at Texas and Talladega this Sunday, Denny Hamlin returned to victory lane at The Monster Mile. With Kyle Larson battling on his bumper, extending Joe Gibbs Racing’s tally to four wins in an early season tug-of-war with Hendrick Motorsports, Denny’s final stage “mirror-driving” masterclass received plenty of attention. But critics, as usual, complain about Hamlin’s victories being aided by some “dirty air” tactics.
Regardless, Denny’s 54th win was barely a fluke. Moreover, this wasn’t the first NextGen race to go down to the wire because of some aero-blocking. And on a day when its master, Kyle Larson, fell victim to the grueling defensive strategy, he might have Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott to blame for his third unsatisfying podium finish in the 2024 season.
Denny Hamlin hammers back after back-to-back disappointment
Two weeks ago at Texas, Chase Elliott bested Hamlin with only two laps to go as the #11 spun out of podium contention from another ‘controversial’ final-stage restart. Ironically, a Kyle Larson-induced caution caused the caution flag to emerge before this incident. Regardless, Elliott broke a 32-race winless streak at the Texas race. Hence, it is unlikely that Kyle Larson would hold his disappointments too much to heart, considering his Hendrick teammates’ encouraging accomplishments on that day. However, in the post-Dover edition of Actions Detrimental, Hamlin reveals he had some plans after the #11 team’s fallout a few weeks ago.
The final stage at Dover saw two cautions. The major one took out team members from both JGR and HMS, with Christopher Bell and William Byron, respectively, ending their day alongside 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace. Kyle Larson, rolling off P1, had his best chance to put some positive distance between himself and Hamlin on this final unscheduled restart, But as fate would have it, Denny would hold on to retake the lead from Larson, starting from the inside line at Dover.
Denny explained his somewhat equal perspective, restarting from the front row with 63 laps to go, “So we didn’t have many laps on our tires, and at that point, I started on the inside, second. And second, typically has been a tough place to start at Dover. But the gearing is kind of wonky where first gear is way too much at that track. Second gear is not enough, and NASCAR does that to try to keep our gear selections the same at all tracks. So they they want to do, if they can a one-size-fits-all when it comes to gearing. “
Making it clear that both himself and Larson restarted on the ‘first gear,’ Hamlin then elaborates on his successful overtake on Larson and the underlying motivations, stating, “And I think he (Larson) says he gets a hit from the #19 that when he starts to go, he gets hit… Then his wheels start spinning. And then I took off and ’cause I didn’t get hit from behind and it allowed us to be even at the start-finish line. I drive into the corner… Hold it down low, and I clear him and I’m like yes. Now I’m in control of the race so trust me I felt the pain of the other side of that when Chase Elliott did it to us you know a few weeks ago at Texas.
“I mean that was the race. I was going to win that race for sure and then he did a great job on the restart the caution comes out and he’s six inches ahead of me. He controls the restart and that was game over after that,“ reminisced JGR’s latest race winner.
An overlooked Hendrick contender eyeing Kansas crown?
Before qualifying for the Wurth 400 at P2 behind Kyle Busch, Larson held back-to-back P2 finishes at Texas and Talladega, coming off consecutive podium finishes at Richmond and Martinsville. The #5’s last win came at Vegas where he swept both stages and kicked off his advance at the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship. In comparison, Denny Hamlin’s season’s second race win came at Richmond, where Larson would finish P3. The following week at Martinsville would mark an incredible 1-2-3 sweep for Hendrick Motorsports, as William Byron, Kyle Larson, and Chase Elliott would round off the podium, in that order.
As the season moved next to Texas, Chase Elliott would redeem himself with his debut victory of the 2024 season, thanks a little in part to William Byron’s unintentional nudge on podium contender Ross Chastain on the final lap. At Talladega, Toyota returned to victory lane with Tyler Reddick and 23XI Racing. But the highest-finishing Hendrick Chevrolet last Sunday did not belong to either Byron, Larson, or Elliott.
t belonged to an often overlooked member of the Hendrick stable, who also fell victim to the aero-blocking and the inherent inability to pass a car without some much-needed clean air this past weekend – Alex Bowman. But this week, during his 300th Cup Series appearance, his battle was within the #48 team, as he finished stage 2 in the second position behind his colleague Kyle Larson. Larson effectively kept taking away Bowman’s air, resulting in the #48 eventually falling off the first 5 spots to end its race in P8. However, the highlight appeared at the onset of the Stage 2 break when defensive strategies on the part of the #5 would leave the #48 driver a little frustrated, causing him to vent to his team over the in-car radio.
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Dissatisfied Max Verstappen speaks of a ‘bad day’ and is disappointed with Lewis Hamilton
Max Verstappen did not get further than the seventh fastest time during the second training for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, after setting the fifth fastest time in the first session in Imola. Charles Leclerc was again the fastest.
Verstappen stated at the start of the second, Friday session that his RB20 already felt a lot better than in the first training. Yet he rode ‘only’ the seventh fastest time.
Two last attempts to set a fast time on the soft tire came to nothing. After Verstappen had already been affected by traffic during attempt one, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton then got in his way. Verstappen was clearly not happy with that and made this known in words and gestures. Hamilton immediately apologized and said to his engineer over the on-board radio that he would have liked to have received a warning that Verstappen was approaching him. Leclerc and Verstappen’s teammate Pérez also had a fight later in the session following a similar incident.
Verstappen: ‘So it happened again’
“That is not the first time that this has happened,” Verstappen said at the time with Hamilton. “You always try to remain calm, but it happened again. At the same time, I don’t want to talk about it too much because that wasn’t our problem today. We didn’t have the speed and we have to solve that. It was difficult to find the right balance, I didn’t feel comfortable in the car and it was very easy to ‘lose’ the car. Today was just bad. There are really things we need to improve to be competitive tomorrow.”
Ferrari driver Leclerc lapped in 1.15.906, making him just under two-tenths of a second faster than Oscar Piastri (McLaren). Behind this followed the surprising Yuki Tsunoda, Hamilton, George Russell, Carlos Sainz and only then Pérez. Verstappen was half a second slower than Leclerc in that fastest lap, Pérez added an extra tenth.
Racing simulation also did not go entirely according to Max Verstappen’s plan
In the final phase, the drivers all focused on the long run with a view to Sunday’s race. That race simulation also did not go entirely according to plan for Verstappen, who shot straight again. Although the lap times of almost all drivers fluctuated back and forth during those long runs.
“The long run was also very bad,” Verstappen was clear. “Do I have confidence that things will get better tomorrow? It can hardly be worse than today. It seems that others have taken a step forward and for us it was not a good day.”
Verstappen also searching during the opening session in Imola
Verstappen was also dissatisfied during the first free practice, earlier in the day. He expressed his dissatisfaction over the on-board radio. The three-time world champion did not get further than fifth place in the opening session.
Apart from the Racing Bulls, all teams brought quite a few updates to Imola, which were extensively tested during the first session of the weekend.
Although Verstappen drove the fastest times in the first and third sectors, he lost a lot of time in the middle part. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) was ultimately fastest for the Italian public: 1.16.990.
Sergio Perez and Verstappen more than two tenths slower than Leclerc
Mercedes driver George Russell conceded a tenth to Leclerc’s time at the beginning of the afternoon, followed shortly afterwards by his teammate Carlos Sainz. Red Bull drivers Sergio Pérez and Verstappen were more than two-tenths slower than Leclerc.
With about six minutes left on the clock, Verstappen was making an improvement, but he shot straight ahead. That happened again in the final minute, without serious consequences. He was therefore unable to complete an ideal lap at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. Red Bull has also introduced a major update in Imola, just like Ferrari and Mercedes. McLaren already did that two weeks ago in Miami. The winner there, Lando Norris, rode the eighth fastest time during the first training.
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“It’s Getting Hotter”: Chase Elliott Refuses to See Eye to Eye With Dale Jr and His Suggestion
“It’s Getting Hotter”: Chase Elliott Refuses to See Eye to Eye With Dale Jr
It’s no secret that Chase Elliott is one of the most dominant active drivers on short tracks. Throughout his career, the #9 Hendrick Motorsports driver has brought in more than a handful of top fives and even wins at tracks like Martinsville. That being said, NASCAR and Goodyear’s short-track tire package dilemma has seen that notion change. With the rise to rumors of a short track losing a date in favor of a venue like Mexico, Dale Earnhardt Jr shared the prospect that NASCAR is making way for more intermediate racing.
However, not every stakeholder believes this is the right direction to head in. Despite Chase Elliott’s drawbacks at short tracks lately, the HMS driver believes that the answer to NASCAR’s dilemma isn’t moving away from the problem.
Instead of increasing the focus on intermediate tracks, Elliott believes the sport shouldn’t over-saturate type of racetrack.
Alongside Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr has been one of the strongest advocates for short-track racing. But with the new packages failing to make good on their promises, Junior interpreted recent rumors of Richmond losing a day as NASCAR altogether shifting away from the format slowly. But Chase Elliott believes this gives rise to an alarming pattern.
The HMS driver believes that choosing to exploit the quality of certain tracks may end up backfiring in the long run. He shared with media ahead of the All-Star Race, “The races at the mile-and-a-half stuff has been really good. But I don’t think that’s always a reason to get more of them. I always feel like less is more. The Bristol Night race is the perfect example of less is more because you go there once a year, it’s super exciting, everybody loves a Bristol Night race, and it’s because it only happens one time a year, it makes it special.”
Adding to his argument, Elliott also highlighted how road-course racing seemed to lose its charm as of late. Compared to when there were only two events on the calendar, the frequent visits to road courses had diluted its exclusivity. Elliott shared, “I just think that that the more you do that and you lean in one direction and add more more more, you can easily make things that are exciting stale really quickly. So I think we just need to be careful not to do that.”
Going over better solutions, Elliott felt that making the Next-Gen car more suited to tackle the short-track dilemma would benefit the sport more. Not only would the calendar retain diversity in the type of tracks, but it would also allow each weekend to have its unique charm. The HMS driver concluded, “I would rather see a better product on the short-track stuff than take them away. I don’t think they’re taking them away, but I would hate to see a movement away from that, just because it’s an important part of our sport.”
It’s safe to say Chase Elliott is eager to protect short tracks from taking a hit on the Cup Series calendar. Speaking of which, the #9 HMS could prove his point further with his return to another glorious short track, this time in a late-model car.
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NASCAR War and Fame: Dale Earnhardt Jr Exposes the Consequences of Denny Hamlin
When Denny Hamlin created 23XI, he already had his plate full. Facing a 36-race Cup schedule and curating a weekly podcast was bound to take a toll on him. But Hamlin had a simple answer for the media when they were curious about why he does it all. He said, “It’s what I love to do.”
And even while managing three avenues: running a business, driving, and talking about motorsport, Hamlin fetches Cup wins every other weekend nowadays. The hectic life that he chooses to live as NASCAR’s foremost speaker is one not many can persevere and maintain. Dale Earnhardt Jr, another podcast owner like Hamlin, sheds light on this as he dissects Hamlin’s busy schedule.
Denny Hamlin’s upbringing was imbued with discipline and hard work. His parents went all-out to support his racing career, as they incurred debt and sold their classic cars so that he could get in a race car. But Dennis Lou, Hamlin’s father, was adamant about a work ethic. “I’m not going out there and working on your race car for you. If you want to do it, you go out there, you learn it — and then when you wreck it, you have to figure out how to get it back to the racetrack.”
That work ethic reflects on all the hectic projects that Hamlin diligently sees through. In a recent interview with Rubbin is Racing, Dale Earnhardt Jr emphasized as much while hailing his podcast rival. “Denny is up for it…Denny’s got a personality and he’s in it…racing, and this is his life…He has his hand in every cookie jar, right. He’s a driver, he’s a car owner, he’s in the podcasting…Certainly, his takes on his show get a ton of attention. He flexes that muscle on all those fronts.”
Hamlin may be sturdy enough to handle all these duties, but other veteran drivers are unwilling to go through that stress. Dale Earnhardt Jr shed light on this aspect: “So that can be really exhausting. And I think some drivers are like, ‘You know, I don’t feel like doing all that. I’m busy enough, I’m content.’”
Balancing racing life with family life and juggling podcast sessions and ownership duties requires you to have a steady mindset. And Denny Hamlin’s unique opinion of his life helps him. “I live in chaos. My life is chaos, and I thrive under chaos… The more (crap) that is stirred up around me, the more I come at it.”
Dissatisfied Max Verstappen speaks of a ‘bad day’ and is disappointed with Lewis Hamilton
“It’s Getting Hotter”: Chase Elliott Refuses to See Eye to Eye With Dale Jr and His Suggestion
