With just four races left before the Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway, the competition in the NASCAR Cup Series gets all the more interesting. With seven wins in this season, Denny Hamlin sits behind Kevin Harvick for most wins in 2020.

Seven wins in a season are usually indicative of a brilliant season. However, for Hamlin, branding a season as ‘successful’ depends on getting to Phoenix. He is delighted to have seven wins, but the championship race is the aim.

“These wins are great. Obviously, this is icing on the cake for us. But we try to win each and every week. Obviously getting to Phoenix, that’s kind of what dictates a good year, a successful year versus a non‑successful year for us,” Hamlin said after his win at Talladega on Sunday.

Denny Hamlin feels getting to Phoenix reflects a good season

One would think that, for the top players, winning the championship is what defines a season despite getting into the final four. But Hamlin explains why getting to that final race is more indicative of a good season.

“It’s not necessarily winning the championship, because anything can happen in one race. If you get there, that means you had a really good season,” Hamlin said further.

Once he gets there, then he can focus on the big prize. “Yeah, that’s our number one objective, is getting to Phoenix. You only got to win one race, believe it or not, to win this championship. Usually, it’s the last one,” Hamlin continued.

Hamlin’s win at Talladega means he can breathe easy at the Charlotte Roval. He is locked into the next round, but that does not mean he wants to start thinking about the Round of 8.

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Getting more stage points and playoff points are always important, especially as the competition gets tougher in the Round of 8.

“To me, my focus won’t shift to the Round of 8. I’m still going to put in the same amount of work this week getting ready for the Roval as I would if I wasn’t locked in,” Hamlin said.

“But certainly, the stress level will be less. Certainly, we can be a little bit more aggressive with our strategy calls starting at the beginning of the race,” he added.

Hamlin won a controversial race at the end. The yellow line rule has been the talk of the town after the penalty to Matt DiBenedetto, NASCAR rescinding the penalty to Chase Elliott, and not penalizing Hamlin.

Dale Earnhardt Jr Gives His Thoughts on the Yellow Line Rule in NASCAR