Denny Hamlin confesses he can’t point his way into the 2024 Championship-4 finale
Denny Hamlin has explained the situation of the seven R-8 drivers following Joey Logano’s Las Vegas Cup race win.
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Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO)
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin was projected as the top championship contender at the start of the 2024 season the saw him scoring three wins. But as the season progressed his form plummeted and he now finds himself in the Round of 8, with a massive 27-point deficit to the cutline, and the lead drivers being in a solid form.
Recently while talking about his championship-4 hopes, Denny Hamlin asserted that he isn’t in a must win situation. He pointed out that Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney needs to win their way into the final 4. Hamlin proceeded to admit that he and his driver Tyler Reddick has to finish top 3 in every race and stage to make into the finale.
There’s a distinct cut-line now. We’re on the other side of it… If you want to talk about must-win, it’s probably going to be Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney, and if you’re going to talk about must-run top three in every stage and the race for the next two weeks, it’s me and [Tyler] Reddick.
Denny Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental.
He admitted that he and Reddick has no option but to finish top 3 every time as the leaders, William Byron, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell are in dominant form. But Hamlin added that if the trio makes mistake, he can take advantage of it in the next two races at Martinsville and Homestead Miami.
No exceptions. You must — if you don’t run in the top three every stage, that’s four stages, and the race, there’s no way we make up that kind of ground on [William] Byron, [Kyle] Larson or [Christopher] Bell. That’s assuming, also, that one of them doesn’t have a great week, you know, doesn’t have a great finish.
Denny Hamlin added.
Denny Hamlin explains how Joey Logano won at Vegas
One of the reason Hamlin has found himself in this situation is the surprise race win of Joey Logano last week at Las Vegas. According to Hamlin, Logano won the race taking advantage of the late caution and his impressive fuel saving ability. He made into the playoff by winning a race in the similar fashion at Nashville in the regular season.
That caution fell at just the right time for that team to say, ‘Okay, you gave us an opportunity to go for it. Now, here we go,’ and so, the timing worked out perfect. They made it happen.
Denny Hamlin said.
The TRD veteran will be hoping to pull of something similar to what Logano did in the coming races to mark his place in the playoffs, as he doesn’t have a positive momentum on his side. It will be interesting to see if Hamlin can make it into the last four.
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Justin P Joy
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