Denny Hamlin determined to “be more aggressive” in playoffs after near elimination in R-16

Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin and crew chief Chris Gabehart won’t be playing it safe in the second round of the playoffs.

Denny Hamlin determined to “be more aggressive” in playoffs after near elimination in R-16

Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO)

The 2024 season was expected to be Denny Hamlin’s year to win the championship following the impressive start to the season he had and his confidence. But thing didn’t get as planned for the JGR veteran as he experience a performance slump as the playoff closed in and wasn’t impressive in the first two races of the R-16.

Denny Hamlin almost got eliminated on the first round of the 2024 post-season due to poor finishes at Atlanta and Glen. If not for the P4 at Bristol on Sunday things would have been much different. So going into R-12 he is planning to be more aggressive with strategy to win races and score points at Dega and Roval, where races are going to chaotic.

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I’m certainly going to be more aggressive and do everything I can to score more points in this superspeedway race but the Roval, I don’t know, that race seems to come down to qualifying but we need to see where we’re at after the first race.
Denny Hamlin said via Sportsnaut.

He went onto point out that having two wild card races and a unique track at Kansas the R-12 feels more like the R-12. So, he can’t afford to make the same mistake and take a slow safe approach. He knows if he doesn’t deliver, it will be an easy elimination for the No:11 from the playoffs, yielding another heart break.

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Overall, this round is very similar but we can’t run these any worse than we just ran these and we advanced.
Denny Hamlin added.
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Chris Gabehart explains No:11 teams plan for Superspeedways

The No:11 Toyota Camry crew chief Chris Gabehart made similar comments when asked about the teams plans to bounce back in the second round of playoffs. One of the major challenges they will have been Talladega, where Hamlin has struggled in the Next-Gen era. So, they have a new plan to tackle the challenges.

Denny Hamlin and Chris Gabehart
Denny Hamlin and Chris Gabehart (Via IMAGO)
For the 11, at least as Talladega is concerned, we’ll have a different approach. We haven’t finished any speedway races good and it’s been because we were wrecked not of our own accord in each of them. That could easily happen this time too.
Chris Gabehart said.

The teams have to forget about their Atlanta strategy of holding back to take advantage of potential wrecks. They should take some risks as playing it safe won’t earn Denny Hamlin and co the championship in the Next-Gen era.

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