COTA is not an easy track to run on, and no one knows it better than Denny Hamlin. He feels that the drivers can sometimes be “lawless” on the opening lap, heading into the first corner. In fact, it did prove to be the case with Chase Elliott last year. Heading into the race in 2026, not a lot seems to have changed.

Denny Hamlin on COTA’s unforgiving T1

“I think most drivers have that mentality, that, well, I didn’t hit the person necessarily in front of me, not realizing that you probably jammed it in on three guys that are on the outside of you. And there’s some collateral damage there.” By the looks of it, Turn 1 at the Circuit of the Americas is rather punishing. There are constant tangles amongst the drivers over there, especially on the opening lap.

It happened with Chase Elliott last year, when he squeezed into the apex only to be turned around. He was then left behind in the field despite a decent starting position. Stating the “collateral damage” that the turn sometimes gives to drivers, Hamlin claimed that COTA proves to be the most difficult challenge for the drivers on the current Cup schedule.

“It’s easy to have a little bit of that lawlessness with less root precautions that Turn 1 at COTA than probably any corner that we’ve got on our schedule,” he said.

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The turn is extremely sharp; however, that is only part of the challenge that drivers face. It is also extremely uphill, with drivers witnessing a 100+ feet of elevation. The apex becomes harder to spot, which is crucial to make the corner. Moreover, it is difficult for drivers to spot around them in stock cars, and the bottleneck then results in multiple incidents, as Hamlin stated.

Even Formula 1 drivers, who have a much better field of view from their cars, can’t escape the ruthlessness of the corner. Every season, there seems to be a growing threat of drivers making contact, and it can also end races sometimes.

So, it does not come as a surprise that Hamlin finds the corner “lawless.” However, his issue with road courses might extend beyond just one corner on a track.

Are road courses Hamlin’s Achilles’ heel?

Despite proving himself in the Cup Series, Denny Hamlin continues to struggle on road courses. To be fair, he did come out and say that “We’re oval racing,” when reacting to the Roval format’s removal from the Charlotte Motor Speedway for this season.

He feels that the Next-Gen car has been designed with oval racing kept in mind, which makes going down on road courses a bit unnatural for the drivers and the cars.

“We need to talk about the sport and the sport is that, oval racing is, and the Next-Gen car, especially, mile and a half has been its strength,” Hamlin told the media. His statement is further amplified by observing his performance on road courses, especially COTA, which might as well be one of the hardest road courses to master on the current Cup Series schedule.

Hamlin has run all editions of the race ever since it was first held in 2021. Interestingly, however, he has only led the race on two separate occasions, for three laps each. Obviously, he has never managed to win there, or even finish within the top-10. What is more interesting, however, is that in two separate years, Hamlin managed to win the race at Richmond Raceway right after the COTA weekend.

This proves that it isn’t a form issue for Hamlin, but something rooted deep in his learning as a driver. He learned to race on ovals, and he wins on ovals, as simple as that. Yet, he would be looking forward to a strong finish this year at COTA, knowing just how tough Turn 1 can be.