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Story Photo Ronald Young/ Myracenews
With the NASCAR postseason closing in, Denny Hamlin once again enters as a top championship contender. Following the point reset after the recent race at Daytona, Hamlin carries a 25-point advantage over Ryan Blaney as the field prepares for the Southern 500 in Darlington.
With two decades of experience at the highest level of stock car racing, Hamlin brings a seasoned perspective to the 10-race stretch that will determine this year’s champion. While some drivers might view past experience under older playoff formats as a distinct advantage, Hamlin remains pragmatic about how much those previous runs translate to the current system.
“I’m not really sure,” Hamlin remarked regarding whether his longevity provides an upper hand. “It is a little different this time around because we have stages and we have more points for winning than the last time we had the Chase(2004-2016). I do think that there’s an opportunity for drivers to make up more points than we had in the past. So, generally, I don’t know that my tenure and experience is necessarily an advantage other than when we see when we go from track to track. I’ve just got a lot of starts at each one of these tracks.”
In a sport often decided by split-second decisions and unpredictable mechanical issues, the debate over luck is perpetual among drivers. For years, Hamlin resisted attributing outcomes to fortune, but twenty years behind the wheel have broadened his outlook.
“I’ve always said I don’t believe in luck, but I don’t know. After 20 years I definitely believe that it’s part of motorsports,” Hamlin explained. “I would say, though, generally speaking, there’s going to be less luck involved with whoever wins this championship because the sample size is bigger. It’s no different than analytics in baseball. One at bat, analytics just doesn’t matter. But over the course of a season, you can start to draw a picture. I think that luck is a thing because in racing usually in a one versus one sport, your competition makes a mistake, you capitalize on your opposing team. In NASCAR, your competition makes a mistake, and it can end up costing you your day. So, there’s absolutely an element of luck in our sport.”
The structure of NASCAR’s postseason has undergone numerous iterations, often sparking debate among purists and modern competitors alike. When assessing the current Chase format, Hamlin notes that consensus across the garage points toward improved equity in deciding the title winner.
“I certainly think that all of them would tell you it’s a more fair way to do it,” Hamlin said. “It’s not the 36 races that some of the old guys were really pushing for. I certainly would’ve loved the 36 races as it stood now, but we could’ve not predicted this, predicted the future. But, I’m fine with it. We got a great schedule ahead of us and I think that this is certainly such a giant leap forward in crowning a champion from what we’ve had.”
That fairness comes with a demanding workload across the entire 10-race sequence. Unlike previous formats where a team might hyper-focus on a single event to win and advance, the current system requires sustained excellence across varied tracks, making preparation a constant grind.
“I think it’s harder, I really do,” Hamlin admitted when comparing his current preparation to past runs. “It’s simply because there is not going to be any opportunity for me to take two weeks and study for one racetrack. It’s not physically possible. Now, there’s an opportunity for me to spend a little bit more time on these last 10, which I will do, but it will never reach the depths in which I worked for Phoenix last year.”
A hallmark of Hamlin’s recent success has been a transformation in his driving style. Rather than relying solely on raw aggression on late-race restarts, he has adopted a strategic approach centered on managing risk and maximizing points throughout the event.
“It’s all about down and distance,” Hamlin noted. “I manage the races in the sense of understanding, how much time is left in this race and do I have enough time to get to the front? Now, that doesn’t bode well for leading laps, but it does bode well for getting the best possible finishing result that you can each Sunday. I’ve certainly been more methodical with how I approach races and how I manage them.”
Looking across the garage, manufacturer dominance is often cited as a key indicator of playoff strength. While Toyota has shown formidable speed, Hamlin cautions against assuming manufacturer statistics translate directly to playoff success.
When asked if other Toyotas represent his steepest competition, Hamlin responded, “If you would use numbers, you would say yes. But there are drivers that I believe step up in these scenarios in the playoffs, in the Chase. So I don’t believe that the advantage is quite as steep as what it was.”
Facing a grueling ten-week stretch, Hamlin highlights the importance of resilience when dealing with minor obstacles. In a postseason structure where every single stage point matters, keeping composure in the face of hardship is essential..
“This is a marathon,” Hamlin emphasized. “You cannot get caught up in one bad week or one bad stage. This is a long way… I think now it’s like the bigger body of work typically bodes well for Denny Hamlin. It just always has. You give me more of a sample size, and we’re going to prove that we’re the best over a long period of time.”
