Denny Hamlin predicts the Talladega playoff race will be a ‘sh*t show’

Denny Hamlin doesn’t expect the chaos-free Daytona season finale to repeat this week at Talladega.

Denny Hamlin predicts the Talladega playoff race will be a ‘sh*t show’

Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO)

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin has admitted that, most probably, the upcoming playoff race at Talladega Motor Speedway will be chaotic. The superspeedway is known for multi-car wrecks and crashes. With playoff progression in line, drivers will give everything at the track for the win or to survive the chaos.

Hamlin, while talking about Talladega, claimed that he expected the regular season finale at Daytona to be a crash fest, which didn’t happen as, despite playoff spots in line, it was less chaotic than Darlington. But the 23XI Racing owner sees it happening this time, as it’s not just the playoff drivers fighting for a win there.

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“We’re going to Talladega now. It’s going to be, I don’t know, I thought Daytona would be a s— show, it didn’t really turn out to be, as much. I guess I’ll call this week, another s— show,” Hamlin predicted via Actions Detrimental (H&T: ProTalk).

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Talladega is going to be a challenge for many drivers, and despite being the most consistent driver alongside Brad Keselowski in the playoff, the best bet for Hamlin will be to stay out of trouble as he doesn’t have to try too much to secure an R-12 entry. For his drivers Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick, it’s an opportunity to secure a better finish and get above the cut-line.

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Denny Hamlin’s driver nearly won last week at Texas

Hamlin was close to securing his third race win of the season as a team owner at Texas Motor Speedway last race. His driver, Bubba Wallace, started the race on the pole and went on to lead a career-best 111 laps, but a poor final restart saw him demoted to P3 while William Byron secured the victory.

Tyler Reddick (Credits: NASCAR.com) Denny Hamlin (Credits: IMAGO) and Bubba Wallace (Credits: IMAGO)
Tyler Reddick (Credits: NASCAR.com) Denny Hamlin (Credits: IMAGO) and Bubba Wallace (Credits: IMAGO)

But Denny Hamlin isn’t disappointed by the poor finish, on the contrary, he is happy that his drivers were strong and competitive. He also addressed the criticism that the team lost valuable playoff points after racing solely for the win, but Hamlin stated that his team did the right thing as they had the fastest car.

“They’re running strong. Certainly, they’re strong contenders. They qualified great. They ran great. They lead 100 and something laps. It’s, you’ve got to feel pretty good about it. But they also missed out on a lot of stage points,” Hamlin said.

“But they’re trying to win the race. At the time they think, ‘Hey, we’ve got a race-winning car, so we’re going to pit.’ We did the same thing on the No. 11. We pitted the same time they pitted,” Hamlin added.

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