Kevin Harvick diagnoses issues with Denny Hamlin's 11 team after Las Vegas

Denny Hamlin would be the first to admit that he and his team have not been firing on all cylinders since the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs began last month.

Yes, Hamlin has done enough to this point to be one of the eight drivers remaining going for the championship. But in terms of speed and situations such as pit stops, it has not been a buttoned-up operation for the No. 11 team. Kevin Harvick, speaking on Tuesday’s “Happy Hour” podcast after Sunday’s Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas, expressed his concern for Hamlin, which he has previously voiced.

Kevin Harvick: Denny Hamlin not ‘hitting all eight cylinders’ in playoffs

“I think so,” Harvick said. “We also get it confirmed every week because Denny kind of confirms everything that we say. Even like this pit stop right there, you can see the orange line on the ground. I mean, that’s four to five feet from where you’re supposed to stop. There’s nobody in front of you on this particular pit stop. And we heard [crew chief] Chris Gabehart address this because Denny did this multiple times. The only reason I point out this particular part of what we’re seeing right here out, because you talk about being a little bit out of sync.

“And sometimes when you’re just out of sync, all those little details start to add up into one thing after another. Obviously, that’s not leaving the tire loose that got left loose on this particular pit stop. And he had to back up on one of them for the same scenario to tighten the left rear tire.”

“It just doesn’t seem like they’re hitting on all eight cylinders to be able to capitalize on everything. And a lot of that is for whatever reason, it could be a number of things, right. It could be all the things happening outside the racetrack for Denny. It could be that the cars aren’t as fast. But they definitely aren’t as good as they were at the beginning of the year.”

Denny Hamlin ‘disappointed’ in 11 team’s performance in playoffs

After a rocky start to the playoffs, in which he finished 24th at Atlanta and 23rd at Watkins Glen, Hamlin has put together five consecutive top 15 finishes. That includes a P8 result at Las Vegas, where he had to rally following a pair of mistakes on pit road.

Hamlin sits 27 points below the cutline heading into Sunday’s race at Homestead, and ideally could use a victory. He has three checkered flags this season, although his last came at Dover back in April.

Hamlin admitted on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast that his postseason has not gone according to plan.

“I’m just kind of disappointed in our playoffs,” Hamlin said. “Certainly, it hasn’t been clean, by any means, especially at the racetracks where we know that we’ve got a chance to contend. It’s just been a rough go at it for us. Kansas and Vegas, two races — you know, you only get so many of these normal style, cookie-cutter racetracks that we’ve got in our playoff schedule, and we’ve had one of them, which was Bristol, and our pit crew was great there. We had a flawless day. We ran upfront, stayed up there throughout the stages and got a great finish, but besides that, it’s just been a really tough go at it.

“We’ve had crashes, we’ve had all kind of things throughout these playoffs. I told you on the way home, ‘Frankly, I’m amazed we’re still in it. I’m amazed we’re still part of the playoffs.’ So, it just has not gone well.”