Denny Hamlin responds to Kyle Petty's criticism of his Atlanta strategy
Kyle Petty was critical of Denny Hamlin’s strategy during Sunday’s Cup Series playoffs opener at Atlanta, in which Hamlin rode around the back for the entirety of the race.
Hamlin, who started from the rear of the field after experiencing an engine issue in Saturday’s qualifying session, anticipated there being a multitude of wrecks, and wanted to stay out of trouble. His goal was to collect 20 points going into Watkins Glen next Sunday. Petty found Hamlin’s conservative strategy to be perplexing.
“Who goes into the playoffs saying, ‘I want to get 20 points in the first race?’ I’ve never heard anything like that in all the history of when we’ve had playoffs, ‘I just want to get 20 race points, I’m gonna ride back here.’ So, I’m more confused now than I was before I heard him speak,” Petty said on USA Network after the race.
Hamlin responded to Petty’s criticism on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast. He explained it was the strategy he “wanted to employ on the day” before expressing confidence going into Watkins Glen and Bristol before the playoff field cuts down from 16 to 12.
Denny Hamlin confident going into Watkins Glen
“I think teams are smarter now than they used to be and certainly, not saying that this was the right strategy, but it was the one that I wanted to employ on the day,” Hamlin said. “If 20 points — I don’t know the last time I scored 20 points on a superspeedway race. It’s been so long. I know that still there’s some things that can happen, but I feel like the next two tracks, tires are gonna be a big thing. At Watkins Glen, we’ve got a new tire that’s got seconds of fall off apparently and if that’s the case, then you could be on the good end or the bad end of that.
“Then you got Bristol; we don’t know whether we’re gonna have a race like the spring or a race like the fall. Either way, we won those two races. So, again, if I can just hold myself above water going to Bristol, I feel very confident we’re gonna go out there and perform well.”
The wrecks Hamlin imagined would happen didn’t come to pass. That is, until the last lap of the race. Hamlin, however, found himself involved. Collect 20 points he did not. Hamlin finished P24 and is now just two points clear above the cutline.
“I feel okay, feel okay about it. The biggest thing about the rounds is I was trying not to finish 20th or worse at any of these tracks,’ Hamlin said after the race. “We do that, then we’re going to be fine. I don’t even know where we finished, but obviously we gotta go the next couple of weeks and perform good.”