Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
With the victory at Chicagoland Speedway to start off the 2015 Chase for the Sprint Cup, Denny Hamlin has automatically locked himself into the second round. As a result, the next two races – New Hampshire and Dover – do not matter in regards to their chances towards the championship. However, it won’t change their strategy moving forward.
“It doesn’t change our strategy,” crew chief Dave Rogers commented after the victory. “We’re going to try to carry as much momentum into the Chase as possible.”
He added that while the next two weeks won’t matter if they have a problem, they’re “still going to go to Loudon and Dover and try to lead laps and contend for the win”, just having to deal with less pressure than the other 15 drivers in the Chase.
Hamlin noted that it may change their strategy a little, though, in planning what car that they bring to the track.
“I mean, like a Dover car is very similar to like a Charlotte car, so maybe we take what we thought was going to be an Elimination car and apply it now to the next racetrack,” he explained. “It could change things for sure. It will make us focus a little bit more on that next round. Now we got two weeks to do that. Definitely it will be an advantage for us to have a couple weeks to just focus on those particular racetracks.”
Historically, drivers who have won the first race of the Chase have gone on to win the championship. Perhaps it deals with confidence, or perhaps it goes with the team having pure speed. For Hamlin, it seems they have both on their side right now.
“I’ve been telling people, look at our finishes going into the Chase. We’ve been strong. Everyone else gets the headlines, but we have been chipping away at some really good finishes here lately, doing a lot of great things,” he commented. “Our Toyotas have been really fast. Joe Gibbs Racing has given us some really good cars here lately. This is no exception. Obviously we just were very fortunate with the late-race restart and we were able to capitalize on it.”
When Denny Hamlin spun on lap five, it seemed as though his day was over. However, a timely caution mid-race to get him back on the lead lap and a strategy play at the end would result in the driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota making it to victory lane. Kurt Busch looked to be headed to victory lane, when the caution would fly with nine laps to go after Matt DiBenedetto got into the wall. Busch would choose to stay out on track, along with Gordon and Hamlin. Hamlin would then make it three-wide on the restart, taking the lead through turn one and two. He would then hold off a late race charge from teammate Carl Edwards to score the victory.
“I honestly didn’t like our chances when I saw two cars had stayed out versus one. But we made the best of the situation,” he commented. “So I think we can make a run. I’ve told everyone these Chase tracks set up better for nobody than it does for me as the Chase goes on. So I think the next round is the most challenging for us personally. You just get us to that final eight round and I’m pretty confident we’ll be at Homestead with a chance.”
Hamlin’s statistics back-up his confidence, too. He has posted a pair of wins, 10 top-fives and 14 top-10s thus far this season, and has won at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the past.
Though for now, he can use the next two weeks as a simple attack at the win, without worrying about his championship hopes. Go for the glory without a thought of worry, as they’d say.
He could very well accomplish the goal as he won twice before at New Hampshire with 11 top-10s in 19 starts. However, he may struggle at Dover as he has failed to post a top-10 in his last two starts, with only six top-10s in 19 starts.
