Denny Hamlin openly admitted that his “fun meter is pegged” and he is “mentally drained” from the NASCAR Cup Series Chase, but went on to reveal how he can overcome and continue to compete at the highest level.
Hamlin’s comments come after a rough start to the Chase. Hamlin began the Chase with a 25-point lead heading into Darlington, but he now finds himself in fourth, 31 points behind current leader Kyle Larson. His teammates Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe have also surpassed him and fifth place Ryan Blaney is only nine points behind him. Blaney’s teammate Joey Logano is in sixth just 13 points behind him.
The backslide started immediately at Darlington Raceway. After contact with Michael McDowell following a restart in Stage 2, Hamlin got into the wall and suffered significant damage. His team was able to make repairs after a number of pit stops, but only managed to salvage an 18th place finish. Fortunately, he was able finish third in both stages to get an extra 16 points and bring his total for the race to 35. His 25 point lead was cut in half in one race.
At World Wide Technology Raceway, Hamlin had a solid ninth place finish, but only managed to earn five stage points in Stage 2 with a 6th place finish. He earned just 33 points for the race overall. His lead shrunk to just nine points. He put together a similar performance at Bristol. He finished third in Stage 1 to earn 8 points, but was not in the top 10 in Stage 2. He went on to finish 8th and earned a total of 37 points, his most since the Chase started. Despite having his best points day to-date, he saw the points lead slip away with Kyle Larson taking it from him with a second-place finish by just one point.
At Kansas, Hamlin finished 3rd and amassed a total of 51 points, the third most in the race with a 2nd and 3rd place in the Stages. However, with Larson winning the race, he saw the gap to the points lead increase to 26. The race at Vegas would be Hamlin’s worst. He finished 16th and only scored a total of 22 points. His gap to Larson increased to 40. At Charlotte, Hamlin rebounded with a fifth place finish and a total of 40 points due to a 3rd place finish in Stage 2.
Most recently at Phoenix, Hamlin finished 28th. He had a strong Stage 1 and earned nine points and added another three with an 8th place finish in Stage 2, but left the day with just 21 points total. His worst points day of the Chase.
During his Actions Detrimental podcast, he opened the segment on the Cup race saying, “I am mentally drained with the Cup Series. I have reached—. My fun meter is pegged to the absolute fullest.”
With those comments, he was asked by co-host Travis Rockhold, ” How do you then as an athlete-driver push that aside, dig in, and lock in for these next three weeks?”
Hamlin answered, “On Tuesday you turn the page. You have no choice. The schedule will not allow anything else. You have to. You have to just go on to the next one.”
However, he noted that he has not been turning the page, “I mean, for me personally, Monday mornings are the worst because by the time I get to sleep, it means if I’ve slept then my mind has calmed. And then my first thought every Monday morning when we—. The Vegases, the Heres (Charlotte), the Darlingtons is [expletive], [expletive], [expletive], [expletive], [expletive]. That’s what it feels like every Monday morning.”
“And I’m just—. God, I just need—. I want one smooth race that no bull[crap] happens. That’s what I want,” Hamlin continued. “But you can’t will it. It just has to happen and some things are meant to happen and some things are not to meant happen. But at this point, I feel like the racing gods are picking on me. That’s where I’m at. Just can’t seem to finish where we’re supposed to finish on the races where we’re strong, for us personally.”
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