Pit This Time may earn a commission when you buy through links on this page. It never affects our coverage. Learn more.
Denny Hamlin said the call to stay out during the green-flag pit stops in Stage 1 of Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway was “an absolute killer,” and that winning the Cup Series title next weekend is now unrealistic.
Hamlin started on the pole and finished sixth. He goes to the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway third in the standings, 70 points behind Kyle Larson.
Hamlin: ‘The story of the Chase’
“The story of the Chase where we just didn’t capitalize on the speed that we had, and you know, it came down to the first stage,” Hamlin said after the race. “That was an absolute killer for us. Obviously, our strategy did not work out in this thing.”
“It’s just I had no tires left, and we lost all of our track position. And then got to start Stage 2 at the tail, because there was a caution that just was poorly timed for us. We just fought for track position. It took all day just to get it back, and then, obviously, the damage didn’t help at all either. So it’s just a tough day, but it was kind of a microcosm of the last couple of weeks.”
‘A dirty old, stinky bed’
Hamlin led early and ran first or second for much of Stage 1, but his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team, led by crew chief Chris Gayle, kept him out while most of the field pitted. He finished the stage 17th with no points.
“Yeah, I don’t know. I saw everyone pitting, and I was waiting on the time to get called. I thought he was just waiting late, maybe running long,” Hamlin said. “But when we were about 40 left to go in the stage, I realized we’re gonna go the whole way. At that point, we made our bed, and it just was a dirty old, stinky bed, and nobody wanted to be in it.”
Larson also stayed out and went a lap down, but he got back on the lead lap when Hamlin and teammate Christopher Bell spun in a Lap 216 crash, and he finished ninth. Hamlin’s car was damaged in that crash.
‘Unrealistic for sure’
Asked whether he still has a chance, Hamlin said the gap is too big.
“Yeah, it’s unrealistic for sure. You know it needed to be in the 40s, something like that, to be somewhat viable,” Hamlin said. “But we’ll go there and do the dog-and-pony show midweek and act like we can do it, but we didn’t capitalize. It’s not a Chase where we capitalized and certainly did not execute to our best ability.”
A driver can score at most 76 points in a race. Larson clinches his third title with nine points at Homestead. Hamlin would need to win, sweep the stages and have Larson’s day end early.
Still looking for a first title
Hamlin, who has won six times at Martinsville, has never won a Cup championship. The Cup finale is Sunday, November 8, at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
Leave a Reply