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Joe Gibbs Racing's star driver Denny Hamlin made it to the Round of 8 in the 2024 Playoff during the Charlotte Roval race weekend. In a recent episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast with analyst Jared Allen, the 43-year-old racer from Chesterfield discussed the shift in every driver's mentality as they advance to the Cup Series finale.
Despite having 54 Cup Series wins to his name, Hamlin has yet to win a championship title. He is one of the top-winningest drivers in the Cup Series, tied with Lee Petty at 10th. As retirement rumors swirl, Hamlin is likely motivated to secure a championship title before the end of his career
In a Cup Series career stretching about two decades, Hamlin has been a part of 18 Playoffs. The three-time Daytona 500 and Southern 500 winner spoke about the shift in the mentality of drivers once they enter the 10-race eliminition-style battle in the aforementioned podcast.
"You got the best eight. It's going to be tough. It is going to be tough because all these teams, they're all threats to win any one of these three races. And they're all threats to run one through eight, all three races, heavyweight battle," Hamlin said (0:00 onwards).
"Yeah. My mentality does focus into, okay, we got to go win now. Like we, you know, there's still an element in the round of 12 where it just don't beat yourself. That's for the end of time. That's the way it's been in the round of 12, round of 16, literally don't be a buffoon and you'll make it. But then in the round of 8, you typically need to win or run top five pretty much in all of them," he added (0:23 onwards).
A video of the interaction was shared on X by Dirty Mo Media. Here's a look at the post, captioned:
"My mentality does focus into, ‘Okay, we have to go win now.’" 💪
"That’s what NASCAR racing was" - Denny Hamlin claims NASCAR has been diverting from its roots
Denny Hamlin has been a part of NASCAR racing for over 20 years. Being a veteran in the sport, Hamlin believes that NASCAR has been diverting from its roots in recent years.
"When it comes to my gripe with the schedule and things like that, it’s because, you know, my whole life I tried to be a Cup Series champion. I wanted to get to NASCAR first," Hamlin said during a podcast (24:32 onwards).
"And then you know back when I was training for this, or moving up the ranks, all I ever did was oval-track racing, because that’s what NASCAR racing was. We raced on ovals, and they were just all different sizes," he added (24:49 onwards).
Here's a look at the entire podcast from YouTube:
As of now, Hamlin is place sixth in the Playoff table. With three races to go ahead of the grand finale, he is in the elimination bubble for the Round of 8 along with Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Joey Logano.
