Winning The Great American Race, however, put Hamlin at ease for the regular season’s 26 races. This year’s schedule was made more hectic with midweek races and no pre-race practice sessions to catch up from a March shutdown related to COVID-19, but Hamlin has remained unfazed by the disruptions.
“I think he believes in his race team. That puts him at ease,” crew chief Chris Gabehart said. “All great athletes really and truly want to do it, in a lot of ways, on their own. They want to be the differentiator between winning and losing. But this is a team sport. There are a million moving pieces every week to give Denny the platform he needs to make that the case.
“I think he knows he’s got that now. Every single week, if we execute, he’s going to have a shot to win and he knows it. I think that puts him at ease and lets him really focus on the mental aspect of winning these races.”
While he may be more relaxed, Hamlin doesn’t feel younger behind the wheel. But he does feel better equipped to win races — as this season’s results attest. Maybe 39 is the new 29.
“Racing is a little different than other stick-and-ball sports,” Hamlin said. “Even though your athletic ability may deteriorate a little bit, in racing I’m winning more with my mind now than I am with my talent. I just feel like I have to be smarter. I have to really be strategic with my moves. I have to really put a lot of effort into thinking about putting myself in the right situation.”
Hamlin knows about being in a good situation. In less than two full seasons of being paired with Gabehart, JGR’s newest dynamic duo has won 11 of its first 60 races.
Gabehart took the reins of a No. 11 team reeling from a winless 2018 season and with the experience of only one NASCAR Cup Series race as a crew chief prior to his appointment. There seems to be a special chemistry between Gabehart and Hamlin, though, and Hamlin believes that is due to one simple fact.
“I think it really boils down to trust,” Hamlin said. “I do my job. (Gabehart) does his. I don’t venture into his department and he doesn’t really venture into mine. He knows I’ve been doing this long enough. When I give him the information I need to make my car faster, he just goes to work on it. He doesn’t try to change how I’m driving to adapt to maybe what someone else is doing. He works on the car to get it where I need it.
“That relationship really works well. We’re building a notebook. That notebook is getting thicker and thicker. The knowledge is getting greater and greater. That’s why you’re seeing the results you’re seeing.”
Gabehart believes there’s another ingredient making the FedEx car such a threat.
“I think it’s attention to detail, I guess is the best way to say it,” Gabehart said. “I’m very much a person that, like so many of these guys we race against, I just try to get all the water out of the rag every week, whether it’s setup or pit strategy, working with my guys or getting Denny’s frame of mind where it needs to be for what the game plan is for that weekend. He’s very much the same. He’s very methodical. He tells you, right? He tells you he’s thinking at the very top of his game right now. I think that’s always been one of his strengths.
“I think you put those two things together; I think we get a lot of the details right. We certainly don’t get them all right, nobody does, but I think we work hard to get a lot of the details right.”
Phase one of the No. 11 team’s season was to win races, which it accomplished at a pace matched only by Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing team. Phase two — remaining consistent throughout NASCAR’s playoffs — requires a mix of expert strategy, good fortune and pinpoint performance from driver, car and crew.
Phase three is to hoist the Bill France Cup in November.
Hamlin, along with Elliott and Harvick, are the top picks to take three of the four Championship Round berths for the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
History has shown, however, that at least one dominant driver falls by the wayside in the postseason. Hamlin says he plans to focus on winning races, giving Gabehart freedom to call the shots and from there, let the chips fall where they may.
“Who knows who is going to be the final four? In this format, who knows?” Hamlin said. “I mean, we could leave a bolt loose and start the race and be out of it in the first round. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I just want to win as many races as I can. If we can somehow get to the final four, we’ve accomplished our goal.
“From that point on, the last 301 laps at Phoenix, we’ll give it our best shot and see where we stack up.”