Denny Hamlin brought out the beast in him and made his HMS teammates pay for Chase Elliott’s brutal blow. Overcoming disappointments this Sunday at Texas and Talladega, Denny Hamlin returned to his winning ways with a monster mile. In an early-season tug-of-war with Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Larson fought hard to extend Joe Gibbs Racing’s record to four wins, but Denny’s Miller driving masterclass drew much attention in the final stage. . But, as usual, critics complain that Hamlin’s victory was aided by dirty air tactics.
Either way, Denny’s 54th win was no fluke. Additionally, this wasn’t the first Gengen race to experience a retirement due to an aero lockup. And on a day when his mentor Kyle Larson fell victim to a harsh defensive strategy, he blames Hendrix’s teammate Chase Elliott for his third unsatisfying podium finish of the 2024 season. Maybe.
Denny Hamlin fights back after experiencing back-to-back disappointments
Two weeks ago at Texas, Chase Elliott beat Hamlin with two laps left. The No. 11 car suffered another “controversial” restart on the final stage, dropping it out of contention for a podium spot. Ironically, a warning flag was raised prior to this incident due to the warning caused by Kyle Larson. Either way, Elliott broke his record of 32 consecutive wins in the Texas race. So given the encouraging success of Hendrick’s teammates on the day, it’s unlikely Kyle Larson will take the disappointment too seriously. However, in the post-Dover edition of Actions Detrimental, Hamlin revealed that he had some plans in place following the collapse of his number 11 squad a few weeks ago.
Two cautions came out on the final stage at Dover, eliminating JGR and HMS team members from the main race, with Christopher Bell and William Byron finishing the day with 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace. Kyle Larson, who had dropped from first place, had the best chance to build a positive gap to Hamlin on this final unscheduled restart, but as fate would have it, Denny was able to retake the lead from Larson by starting on the inside line at Dover. Denny explained his somewhat balanced view of starting from the front row with 63 laps to go: And secondly, Dover is usually difficult to start.
However, the gear ratios are a bit unstable and there are too many first gears on this route. Second gear is not enough and NASCAR is trying to make gear selection the same at all tracks. Therefore, I would like to create a standard solution for gear ratios if possible. ” Hamlin reveals that both he and Larson restarted in “first gear” and then details his passing success against Larson and its underlying motivation. He said, “And I think he (Larson) is saying he was hit by the No. 19 car, and as he was driving away he was hit… and his wheels spun.” I started, but I didn’t get hit from behind, so I was able to tie the score at the start/finish line. I pull into the corner… I hold down the button and I drive past him and say “yes”. I am in control of the race now. So believe me, I felt the pain on the other end when Chase Elliott did it to us in Texas a few weeks ago. “I mean, that was the race.
I definitely would have won that race and he did a great job on the restart, the caution came out and he was six inches in front of me. . He controlled the restart and after that it was game over,” recalled JGR’s youngest race winner. Is Hendrick’s contender for the Kansas crown overlooked? Before qualifying for the Worth 400 with a second-place finish behind Kyle Busch, Larson recorded consecutive P2 finishes at Texas and Talladega, followed by consecutive podiums at Richmond and Martinsville.
The No. 5’s most recent win came at Las Vegas, where he won both stages and secured his lead into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship. In contrast, Denny Hamlin’s second win of the season came at Richmond, where Larson finished third. The following week at Martinsville, William Byron, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott rounded out the podium in that order, marking an astounding 1-2-3 record for Hendrick Motorsports.
As the season progresses further into Texas, Chase Elliott redeems himself with his first win of the 2024 season after William Byron accidentally collided with podium contender Ross Chastain on the final lap. At Talladega, Toyota returned to winning ways with Tyler Reddick and 23XI Racing. But the highest-placed Hendrick Chevrolet last Sunday didn’t belong to Byron, Larson or Elliott.
It 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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