Denny Hamlin airs out frustrations with NASCAR Cup Series playoff tracks

Denny Hamlin aired out some frustration with the tracks the NASCAR Cup Series has taken their playoffs to thus far, as the Round of 12 came to a close at the Charlotte Roval.

On the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin explained why he believes it’s sacrilegious that the first six races of the playoffs didn’t feature some more traditional track types, but he’s excited for the return of the ovals he’s used to in the final four races.

“When it comest my gripe with the schedule and things like that, it’s because, you know, my whole life I tried to be a Cup Series champion. I wanted to get to NASCAR first, and then, you know, back when I was training for this, or moving up the ranks, all I ever did was oval-track racing, because that’s what NASCAR racing was. We raced on ovals, and they were just all different sizes,” Hamlin explained. “You had real small ones, real big ones, and you know, back in the day, there was a road course, and when I started, there were two, you had Watkins Glen and Sonoma, and that was it. It was just such a small part of the schedule, it was like just a — not an exhibition, but it was like, ‘Hey, this is not what we do, but we’re going to do it this week.’

“Now, you know, we took Atlanta and turned it into a superspeedway. We’ve changed the game, and we’ve changed — you can argue that superspeedway racing, it definitely still has elements of skill to it. It’s got a big element of luck in it. So yeah, I get frustrated when I look at the schedule and it’s like, ‘Wow, so you put two superspeedways in there and two road courses in the first six races.’ We get two conventional NASCAR tracks that we’ve been, that’s our roots, that’s what we’ve always done and that’s what made NASCAR great is circle track racing. So yeah, this schedule never really suited me or my skillset. I’m not great on road courses, I need to get better at them, I’m trying, but I’m also 43 years old. There’s a point where there’s diminishing returns on the time and effort that I spend to try and get better at road courses.

“If it’s going to continue to be such a big part of crowning a champion, then yeah, I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do, but now, it’s why I’m overjoyed with, ‘Yes, I’m still in it,’ and now we’re going back to traditional NASCAR racing, which is what I wanted to be, is the best guy who knew how to make circles faster than everybody else. So, it’s just — we made it through the first six races, with all these wild cards, with the 14-points penalty for that engine. We made it, and now the sky is the limit.”

With Las Vegas, Homestead, Martinsville and Phoenix on the docket, Denny Hamlin could be majorly rewarded for making it through a gauntlet of superspeedways and road courses over the next four weeks. With his quest for his first title on the brain, time will tell if the No. 11 wheelman can finish the job in 2024.