The weekend began off badly in qualifying as Hamlin may very well be discovered slogging across the observe, over two seconds off the tempo. He landed himself a begin on the very again of the grid for Atlanta. His crew instantly went below the hood, selecting to switch plug wires. The identical change was made to his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs in a proactive try and keep away from the identical difficulty on race day. They too, would begin from the very again.
However whereas Truex and Gibbs marched to the entrance on Sunday, Hamlin remained on the very again. At first, it appeared as if there might have been a difficulty with the No. 11 Toyota, nevertheless it was truly part of the plan. He ended Stage 1 in thirty second place, and about 15 laps into the second stage, he willingly pulled out of line in favor of returning to the rear of the sector.
“I do not prefer it, Chris,” he radioed, chatting with crew chief Chris Gabehart. “I believe they’re gonna wreck.”
Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, Mavis Tire Toyota Camry
Picture by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Pictures
Nevertheless, it turned out to be a reasonably clear race for Atlanta requirements. There have been no accidents throughout the second stage, which noticed Hamlin as soon as once more select to make no ahead progress. Because the laps ticked away, over 30 automobiles have been nonetheless operating and on the lead lap. Hamlin had no alternative however to attempt to lower a path to the entrance, however at that time, it was going to be a tough activity.
“I assumed on the very finish we acquired the Mavis Tire Camry form of the place it wanted to be, however by then, you have been form of coping with a log jam of a few lanes which might be form of blocking issues and also you couldn’t go a lot of anyplace, so I simply tried to keep away from the wrecks,” Hamlin defined later. “I used to be making an attempt to get 20 factors out of the day. That was my objective — simply get 20 nonetheless we may, clearly, beginning within the again didn’t assist with that. We did the very best we may.”
A day avoiding wrecks ends in a wreck
The massive wreck lastly did occur — on the ultimate lap, and Hamlin himself was collected. He crab-walked his broken automobile throughout the road, ending twenty fourth and accumulating solely 13 factors.
“Simply noticed automobiles turning sideways in entrance of me,” he stated of the incident. “Tried to keep away from wrecks all day and simply acquired within the final one.”
Hamlin leaves Atlanta eleventh within the championship standings, simply two factors above the cut-line. Nevertheless, the disappointing weekend did not actually faze the motive force of the No. 11 JGR Toyota.
“No, probably not,” he stated when requested if he was involved. “I did what I wished to do and that was lay within the again a lot of the race, and attempt to see what attrition happened, once more – 20 factors appeared actually attainable, however got here up slightly in need of that at the moment.”
The mentality behind the technique
In his protection, the ultimate two races of this spherical are Watkins Glen, the place he completed second final yr, and Bristol, the place he received just some months in the past. His teammate, Truex, selected to race from the again at Atlanta, and ended up getting in a wreck that left him with simply 4 factors. It was an overly-cautious technique that may have seemed nice if the race confirmed the identical form of attrition we noticed earlier this yr, nevertheless it simply did not occur.
On Monday, Hamlin spoke extra about it on his podcast, Actions Detrimental, explaining that the information and analytics performed a serious position in his choice to journey for many of Sunday’s race. Within the spring Atlanta race, he led 15 laps however introduced residence an identical outcome, ending twenty third and scoring simply 14 factors.
Nonetheless, the motive force who received the race was one who selected to take all the chance and battle up entrance from inexperienced flag to checkered flag — Joey Logano. Hamlin is probably not fearful, however any misfortune over the subsequent two weeks may now spell the top of his title run earlier than it even acquired the prospect to essentially start.
