Kyle Petty has criticized Denny Hamlin’s unusual strategy during the Playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The former NASCAR driver expressed his confusion about Hamlin’s approach in a post-race interview, where Hamlin mentioned aiming to accumulate 20 points from the weekend.
At the Quaker State 400, Joey Logano secured his second Cup Series victory of the season and advanced to the Round of 12. Team Penske’s Logano restarted alongside Daniel Suarez on Lap 265, with their teammates, Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain, in tow. Chastain was attempting to assist Suarez, while Blaney was pushing Logano. However, Chase Elliott’s push of Chastain into the wall on Turn 3 of the final lap caused Suarez to lose momentum, allowing Logano to take the win.
Hamlin’s race, on the other hand, was troubled from start to finish. Beginning from the back of the field, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver struggled to maintain position and finished 34th and 29th in the two stages. He was involved in the final-lap crash triggered by Elliott and ended up 24th at the 1.54-mile track.
Hamlin had anticipated more wrecks at the reconfigured track and aimed to earn 20 points for the race. In his post-race conversation with Bob Pockrass, Hamlin revealed his strategy:
“I thought there would be a bigger wreck. I was trying to play the numbers, expecting more incidents than occurred. There were still some playoff guys involved in incidents, but overall, I focused on getting 20 points, which is typically a high team finish. I just wanted to get through this round,” Hamlin explained.
Kyle Petty was perplexed by Hamlin’s strategy, stating, “Who goes into the playoffs saying, ‘I want to get 20 points in the first race’? I’ve never heard anything like that in all the history of the playoffs. It’s confusing to me now.”
Despite Hamlin’s struggles, his 23XI Racing teammate, Tyler Reddick, had a strong performance. Starting from 23rd, Reddick improved to 17th in the first stage and 11th in the second. He navigated through multiple wrecks and cautions to finish 6th, earning his 19th top-10 of the 2024 Cup Series season.
Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace, Hamlin’s other driver and a non-playoff participant, started alongside Reddick but finished 29th, after placing 33rd in both stages. Reddick was the second-fastest Toyota driver in Atlanta, behind Christopher Bell, who secured a 4th place finish for JGR.
