Saturday’s victory at Bristol was a statement from Denny Hamlin. Ending his streak of bad luck at the famous short track, Hamlin maintained his form to clinch the bass Pro Shops night race and finished the first elimination round in style. However, are these performances enough to declare him the frontrunner for a championship win?

The 42-year-old is one of the sport’s best and most experienced drivers. More than 50 wins under his sleeve speak volumes about his driving ability. But agony has surrounded him regarding discussions of winning a championship. However, a certain NASCAR insider believes that this season might just be where he ends his long-lasting drought.

Denny Hamlin has repaid NASCAR insider’s faith in him

Denny Hamlin has often been ostracized in his career. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran has been subject to unnecessary criticism more often than not. Although a lot of it is down to his antics on and off the track, his talent in the iconic #11 is not something to be undermined.

With the starting moment of the playoffs, Hamlin had decided to change his fortunes this time around, and from the looks of it, his vision of being a Cup Series champion could come true.

Talking to popular journalist Jeff Gluck, Hamlin arrived as a guest at the former’s talk show, The Teardown. The duo dived deeper into yesterday’s race at the Bristol Motor Speedway, where Hamlin ended his unlucky and winless run in the playoffs with dominance.

“Speaking of the championship, you’re making my pick look good so far. I picked you to win before the playoffs started,” started off Gluck. Hamlin has been the top choice for many experts, having been one of the fastest drivers with a solid car this season. A sense of curiosity arose within Denny as he enquired, “How many times have you done that in your career?”

“Well, too many. You know, I figured like if I kept going, eventually I would get it right,” replied Gluck, shedding light on his plans of hoping to see Hamlin lift the coveted trophy at least once. Considering Denny’s acumen, it can be classified as a safe bet in all honesty.

The JGR driver then throws a sly sarcastic comment that sent laughs across the board. Referring to Gluck having a similar approach in gambling, he added, “So you’re clearly the guy in Vegas that you see all red on the roulette wheel and you’re betting black because you’re like it’s gonna be black eventually.”

Gluck reveals that such an approach has its demerits as well, saying, “Yeah that’s why there’s nothing in my wallet right now.”

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But if what Jeff is hoping for at Phoenix in the final race of the post-season comes true, his wallet won’t be running empty unlike after his exploits at the casino.

#11 Camry has ‘no glitches’ at the moment

In the playoff opener at Darlington, Denny displayed filthy pace in the #11 to steer clear of the rest of the grid. Until the unlucky bump and spin, he looked like the clear winner of the race. He rallied in a similar manner at Kansas where tragedy befell upon him yet again as a late restart pushed him behind in the last three laps of the race. Coming on the back of two close misses, Hamlin was hungry for a win and he delivered.

As the conversation continued, he elaborated on how it feels to be the best car on the track. Hamlin claimed, “It’s easy to feel this way when you’re performing the way we are. I mean honestly, there’s no glitches right now. We’re just fast. We’ve been the car to beat in the last three weeks in a row.”

“Sure we don’t have one trophy but damn. I mean the competition knows that you probably have to go through the #11 if you want to win on any given week right now.”

Hamlin will hope to carry on this run of dominance into the next rounds and eventually to Phoenix as he prepares to launch another strong bid at the championship.

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