Denny Hamlin 'pretty confident' for Bristol despite being below NASCAR Playoff cutline

Despite another finish outside the top-20 and being six points below the NASCAR Playoffs cutline, Denny Hamlin has confidence heading into Bristol. Today, Hamlin ran into multiple problems at Watkins Glen.

Denny Hamlin played it conservatively at Atlanta. It didn’t pay off. Then he qualified poorly at Watkins Glen on Saturday. That put him in the middle of the pack to start the race, and that is where disaster struck.

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Lap 1, Hamlin was damaged heavily, but able to stay in the race. From there he caught a few breaks but would find himself in another wreck before the end of the race. However, picking up the lucky dog, getting on the lead lap, Hamlin salvaged his afternoon the best he could.

After the race, Hamlin spoke to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports about his finish and how he feels about next week.

“My fault on qualifying, I put us in a bad spot there and it put us right in the middle of where the crashes are,” Hamlin explained. “So, I can’t complain if I’m going to qualify bad.”

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver didn’t really see what happened. Based on what he knows about the course, he pretty much diagnosed it perfectly.

“I couldn’t see. There was just a jam up there,” he continued. “With the rumble strips and the way they are, if you kinda get on them wrong it’ll shoot you into the car beside and more than likely the 8 got turned somehow that way.”

Denny Hamlin then expressed his confidence for next week at Bristol. He has won the last two Cup Series races at the Last Great Colosseum.

“Yeah we’re going to a let-off oval, one where you gotta let off the gas,’ Hamlin said. “So, I feel like we should be pretty confident. I can’t think of the last time we haven’t had a race-winning car there.”

This No. 11 team is taking finishes of P24 and P23 into Bristol. It is a tough race track, but it is one where Hamlin has dominated in the past.

There is a limited sample in the Next Gen era. However, in the three Next Gen races at Bristol, Hamlin has always qualified well and finished well. Starts of P4, P2, and P3 from 2022-2024. His finishes have been P9, P1, and P1.

It will be interesting to see how comfortable and confident Denny Hamlin is next week. He enters the Bristol Night Race six points below the cutline.