Denny Hamlin reflects on what was wrong with his car at Phoenix

Denny Hamlin sat on the pole for last Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway and appeared to be one of the faster cars on the racetrack.

Hamlin tied Tyler Reddick for the most laps led (68), but when looking to pass him for the lead on Lap 212, spun out to bring out a caution. Hamlin did get back in the mix, picking up a P11 result. Speaking on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast on Monday, Hamlin reflected on his run at Phoenix, saying his car wasn’t exactly up to par with some of the other contenders.

“I just felt like always the next best car,” Hamlin said. “There was always someone just a little bit better than me at times. I thought overwhelmingly we can’t take anything away from the 20 [Christopher Bell]. Regardless of where he was on the track, he was turning probably the fastest lap times when I looked when the race was over.

“But yeah, again, there was many times and you probably heard me over the radio saying, he’s like, ‘What do you need?’ And I would say, ‘I don’t know. I feel I’m good some laps, I’m not good on some laps, I’m not consistent.’ I think personally I still have a little room to grow at that track to get better. So, before I can really get them to work on the car, I probably need to get to work on myself a little bit more.”

Denny Hamlin hoping for better run at Bristol

The 43-year-old has just one top-10 finish through four races this season but will have a great chance to get one or perhaps a win in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Hamlin qualified third at Bristol, a racetrack he has had success at. He won the fall race at Bristol last season and picked up two additional victories at the racetrack in 2012 and 2019.

As for the track conditions this time around, Hamlin had plenty to say about the grip at Bristol following the qualifying session.

“I think someone pee-peed in the Goodyear rubber mixture I’m not really sure, but it’s definitely really different,” Hamlin told Jamie Little on FS1. “It’s kind of enjoyable because everyone is so out in left field right now. This is certainly different, to be the same tire. I’m not sure if the mixture of the resin or [inaudible], it’s thrown all of us for a loop here in the short-term.”