Kevin Harvick expresses disappointment in uncharacteristic Denny Hamlin start, bad decisions
As the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs wind down, Denny Hamlin currently finds himself on the wrong side of the cut line.
He trails Ty Gibbs by six points heading into the weekend at Bristol, where he’ll have to produce better results than he has thus far in the postseason. Analyst Kevin Harvick broke down some of Hamlin’s recent struggles on the Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast.
“I think when you look back at just the driver strategy to go out at Atlanta and just try to race for 20 points, and then everything that’s happened, all the drama, between the charters and everything that’s happened, it’s just derailed the 11 car off the tracks,” Harvick said. “I think they can go to Bristol and put it back on the tracks, and they can go there and win, but man what a dismal way to start the first two races of the playoffs.”
Denny Hamlin’s strategy at Atlanta backfired on him. He finished in 24th, collecting only 13 points toward the playoffs.
It was a similar finish this weekend at Watkins Glen, where Hamlin finished in 23rd after being turned by Brad Keselowski and sent into the outside wall.
The latter was indicative of the kind of mistake Hamlin doesn’t normally make.
“I think Denny’s probably been through, he’s definitely been through some lows,” Harvick said. “I think right here he just turned over the front of the 6 car. I’m sure the spotter was on the radio saying three-wide. You heard Steve Letarte say it on the broadcast, it was kind of a desperation move to hope that Brad was going to lift to get back in line right there.
“But we’ve seen some uncharacteristic things.”
Whether Denny Hamlin can get it back on track in enough time to salvage things and advance to the Round of 12 remains to be seen. As a driver, he’s certainly capable.
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But Harvick outlined the very real danger that it may be getting too late for even an experienced driver like Hamlin to pull out of this recent funk.
“I look at Denny Hamlin as a leader and a guy that is going to go out and be aggressive and always try to win, but I just feel like when they went out at Atlanta and that strategy didn’t work out and it didn’t seem they were on the same page with what his strategy was with he and his team, it just took the wind right out of the sails,” Harvick said.
“Momentum is a real thing in our sport. It really is. It’s no different than any other sport. And we hear all the guys talk about it: We want to get hot at the right time and that’s how you win these championships. Sometimes you just can’t do anything right, and sometimes it just comes down to that momentum being based on the decisions you make. And in the first round of the playoffs, the 11 car driver made a bad decision. And the only way out now is to go to Bristol and have a great day. But they haven’t had a great day lately.”