When Denny Hamlin did not do well at COTA, we thought that road courses were not his thing anyway. But what if that was the #11 team’s short-track winning strategy? That would not be a far-fetched thought, considering how close Denny seems to secure his first-ever Cup Series Championship win.

In his podcast show after the COTA race, Hamlin had explained why he refrained from delivering an all-out performance. He had a conversation with his crew chief, Chris Gabehart, and devised a plan to reserve his energy and focus for the next short-track races, where he would have a better shot at winning. Now, his Crew Chief has provided more weight to his statements.

Chris Gabehart explains his reasoning for not committing to the race at COTA

The championship race only has 4 drivers competing for the big prize. And to make it to the final 4, the team needs a maximum amount of playoff points. These points can be accumulated during the regular season, with race wins making a good addition to them. Knowing that road course races are not Hamlin’s strong suit, his crew chief planned for him to go all out in pursuit of wins at his favorite hunting grounds, like Richmond.

Sharing his reasoning behind the strategy, Gabehart said in an interview, “We just met at my office Monday, and I told him. Looking at the stretch of tracks we got coming up, we fully expect to get a lot of playoff points in the next few weeks. We set a very specific goal. Not much else was said, he was like, okay and we’re well on our way.”

With optimism, he further added, “We’ve seen that a second Martinsville race about 7 o’clock at night in Martinsville when you’re seeing the final tally of points who’s going to the championship race, it always comes down to a couple of those playoff points, and happy to say we are adding more to that column.”

The strategy indeed worked in favor of Hamlin, who, despite finishing 14th with just a stage win at COTA managed to secure his second win of the season at Richmond Raceway in dramatic fashion.

Denny Hamlin’s team is firing on all cylinders for the 2024 Cup Series season

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It’s not just Hamlin and his crew chief who are putting in the work that is delivering the wins for the #11 team. The pit crew has also been in sync with the driver’s ambitions and goals for the races. We can even go as far as to say that the win at Richmond Raceway was possible because of the impressive shift put in by the pit crew.

With a late caution, Hamlin’s pit crew was under pressure to give him a huge boost going into the restart. Competing against the #19 and #22 teams, the pit crew of the #11 team pulled off a clean and efficient pit stop, clocking at 8.99 seconds. “This trophy needs to go to each one of these pit crew members, they just did an amazing job, they’ve been killing it all year,” Hamlin said after winning the race.

Placed third in the driver’s standings, Denny Hamlin has been on an impressive run so far this season. So do not be surprised if he rakes in more wins.

Denny Hamlin Hides Behind Age Argument to Justify His Road Course Inferiority