[autotag]Denny Hamlin[/autotag] closed out the 2023 regular season in a quiet, yet consistent fashion. Over the last 10 races, Hamlin has the most points, most top-5 finishes, and the best average finishing position of any full-time driver. While the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has not seen as many wins as William Byron or Martin Truex Jr., there are reasons to be excited about his playoff prospects.
Hamlin is also performing at a very high in the middle of contract negotiations with Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing, which makes it even more impressive. During Thursday afternoon’s Playoff Media Day, Hamlin explained why the No. 11 team is well-positioned to make a run during the 2023 NASCAR playoffs.
“I think the team has got better all-around speed than what they’ve had in a while,” Hamlin said. “I think that first year Next Gen we knew that we were good on the big tracks, we weren’t good on the short tracks and road courses were awful, right? We’ve shown we can win and have speed at all tracks this year so that’s something we haven’t had, even though we’ve made it to the final four so many years.”
Denny Hamlin wins his 50th race and gets BOOED! #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/NHv4EAKYsU
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 23, 2023
“We still have more overall speed at all types of race tracks where honestly you can get to the final four, but if you don’t have speed in Phoenix it doesn’t matter, and I think we will.”
Hamlin has certainly shown enough speed to suggest that he could be fighting for the 2023 Cup Series title at Phoenix Raceway in November. If the driver of the No. 11 car continues to string good performances together, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him lift the trophy for the first time in two months.
[lawrence-related id=1062]