Denny Hamlin diagnoses reasons why he 'couldn't compete' at Bristol

Denny Hamlin knew winning the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night was going to be an uphill battle. On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin explained why he “couldn’t compete” in the race.

“The inside is not preferred on the restart for sure. But I just didn’t have the short-run speed I needed,” Hamlin said. “All weekend struggled to have the short-run speed to really compete that well. Not sure whether it’s setup changes or just me not getting after it enough. Could be a combination of many of those things, but overall I just think… There was a time when I got to third then got to second in a long run.

“…[Kyle] Larson was right there like 10-12 car links in front. Now he was getting held up in traffic, but I don’t know, not really I feel like I had it. “

Despite not being able to “compete” on Saturday, Hamlin had a strong showing at Bristol, finishing fourth in the race. And in the last five races at Bristol, Hamlin has finished in the top 10 in all of them, including wins in the fall race of last year and the spring race of this year.

Can Denny Hamlin go on a big run for the rest of the playoffs?

The goal for Hamlin now is to continue to advance in the playoffs and earn his first Cup Series championship. On The Teardown podcast, Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic revealed Hamlin’s championship outlook heading into the next round of the playoffs.

“They can absolutely win the championship, absolutely. I mean, they could win, they could win at Talladega or Kansas and it would not be a surprise,” Bianchi said. “Then, you go into Round Three, they could win at any of those three tracks. They could win at Vegas, Homestead or Martinsville, and they sure as hell can win at Phoenix. They can absolutely win the championship.

“Are they snakebit a little bit? Absolutely. Have they not had the finishes that correspond with their speed? Yes. Are they to the level they were at — the same level they were at earlier in the year? No, they’re not. But this still, this team, is still so good, and while consistency is great, and you can point your way to the next round, this team is also good enough to win a race, and if that’s what they need to do, I feel like they’re going to do it.”