Denny Hamlin not comfortable with playoff points standing after Atlanta

Unlike the Pittsburgh Steelers, Denny Hamlin had a miserable weekend in Atlanta, and he’s paid the price with his standing in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff points.

At the moment, the veteran wheelman is only two points above the cut-line. However, the good news is there’s two races remaining until the Round of 12, and Hamlin performs well at both tracks, with Watkins Glen and Bristol on the schedule.

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Regardless, Hamlin is far from comfortable, as he’s feeling the heat at the moment. He has a shot at his first championship in 2024, but he’ll have to make it out of the Round of 16 to capture it.

“Am I comfortable? No,” Hamlin said, regarding his standing in the playoff points, via Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin. “I mean, certainly, because, you know, I know that still, there’s some, you know, things that can happen, certainly, but I feel like the next two tracks, tires are going to be a big thing, right? And Watkins Glen, you know, we’ve got a new tire going there that, you know, has seconds of fall off, apparently, and if that’s the case then, you know, you could be on the good end or the bad end of that.

“Then, you’ve got Bristol. We don’t know whether we’re going to have a race like the spring, or a race like the fall. Either way, we won those two races, and so, you know, again, if I can just hold myself above water, get going to Bristol, I feel very confident we’re going to go out there and perform well.”

In addition to his playoff struggles, Hamlin is dealing with some headaches as a team owner, as 23XI Racing has chosen to fight NASCAR regarding their new charter agreement. Kevin Harvick believes it’s dividing Hamlin’s attention, and we’re seeing it effect his ability to race on Sundays.

“He has brought it to himself,” Harvick said, via the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, regarding Hamlin’s distractions. “I think, at Media Day, he wore the sign on his back, and had everything pointing towards answering all those questions, and then it just totally flipped on him, totally flipped on him, when all those teams signed that charter deal, and everything that he had going on. Laid an egg on the racetrack. Now, here he sits, and he’s not done answering all those questions. There’s more questions now. 

“I mean, you’re going to have to answer questions about how you raced, you’re going to have to answer questions that you didn’t answer last week about your charter. … It’s all kind of flipped on Denny. You know, he’s kind of been that voice for everything that’s been happening with the charters, and now he’s in a position where he’s racing for his life to stay in the playoffs, where we all thought he was a championship team. Now, he’s going to have — unless they address it and they figure it out, he’s going to have to address those problems week after week after week, because those questions aren’t going away.”

Perhaps Denny Hamlin can quiet the noise with a win at Watkins Glen this weekend. The veteran wheelman finished P2 at the track last season, so there’s some merit for the No. 11 to find Victory Lane on Sunday.