HAMPTON, Ga. — For all 266 laps Sunday afternoon at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin was a non-factor.
He had an issue in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying Saturday, posted the slowest time and the team ultimately made unapproved adjustments to get the No. 11 Toyota Camry race-ready. Once on track Sunday, it became clear his car had handling issues.
Battling a loose condition and knowing the unpredictability of the newly reconfigured Atlanta, Hamlin made the executive decision to drop out of the pack. The Chesterfield, Va., native didn’t score any stage points and rode around in the rear for nearly the entire race.
“I was trying to get 20 points out of the day,” Hamlin said. “That was my goal – just get 20 however we could, obviously, starting in the back didn’t help with that.”
Coming into the playoff opener 10 points to the good, Hamlin dropped below the cutline for most of the race.
But as the laps ticked off, Hamlin needed to make some sort of move to salvage his day. A caution came out for a sign that blew onto the track with nine laps to go, giving Hamlin hope toward achieving that 20-point goal.
After another caution resulted in NASCAR Overtime, Hamlin ran inside the top 20 on the final lap – but ultimately came one corner short of a clean day.
Chasing the victory, Ross Chastain smacked the fence entering Turn Three and it created a stack-up, turning into a wreck that claimed the No. 11 car. Hamlin nursed his battered machine across the line in 24th, earning just 13 points on the afternoon. His average running position was 30.87.
“Just saw cars turning sideways in front of me,” Hamlin said of the final lap. “Tried to avoid wrecks all day and just got in the last one.
“I thought at the very end we got the Mavis Tire Camry kind of where it needed to be, but by then, you were kind of dealing with a log jam of a couple of lanes that are kind of blocking things and you couldn’t go much of anywhere, so I just tried to avoid the wrecks.
“We did the best we could, and then got in a wreck that probably cost us eight to 10 spots or so.”
Ahead of Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l next weekend, Hamlin is just two points above the cutline.
But the three-time Daytona 500 champion isn’t worried. He won the pole at Watkins Glen last year and the race back in 2016.
Following Watkins Glen is a trip to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway – one of his best tracks. Although his spring win is tainted with an engine violation, he’s won the last two events on the concrete oval and has four wins there in his career.
While his playoff cushion is essentially negated, it’s business as usual the next two weeks.
“No, not really,” Hamlin said when asked if he was concerned. “I did what I wanted to do and that was lay in the back most of the race, and try to see what attrition came about, again – 20 points seemed really possible, but came up a little short of that today.”