Denny Hamlin recognizes he gave the fans at Texas Motor Speedway a 2-for-1 special at the end of Sunday’s race.
Not only did Hamlin wreck during the final laps, but it led to Chase Elliott breaking his long winless streak in the process. During the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, the No. 11 wheelman explained why he had some slight regret about going for the win, and not being satisfied with P2.
“I thought that — I’m like, second is not bad. I was thinking that as I was sitting in my pit stall, and them banging hammers on the back of my car. I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, second really would have been nice today.’ Listen, I saw this wreck coming five minutes before it happened,” Hamlin explained. “As we’re running, I mean, that’s my job as a driver right, is to think about all the scenarios, and what it’s going to take to win the race. And I’m thinking my first job is, I need to get a good restart and be beside them in turn one and two. Second job is, I need to be totally beside him entering turn three, so we need to be nose to nose. If I’m behind him, he’s gonna wash up, and then I’m in a bad spot. So I thought about all the scenarios, and I thought about, ‘Well what happens if I’m not ahead?’ I said, ‘You know what, I’m just going to trust it. I’m gonna sack up here, and I’m going to try to run higher than I did all day. I’m going to try it.’
“Reddick was making it work. He hauled ass, at that point of the race. He’s running way up there. So I’m like, ‘Maybe it’s possible. I just, I’m going to try it.’ But I nearly busted my ass a few times. And so, I just thought, do I race conservatively here, or do I do everything I can to get this win, and just knowing that wins are hard to come by, generally speaking, I said I’m just going to do whatever it took. I was willing to deal with the consequences. But I can tell you, once the consequences came, I had second thoughts. … I didn’t want to wreck. But yes, I’m pained with this Monday morning thinking about what could have hit what could have been if I just backed off.”
Nevertheless, Hamlin realizes the result was a tremendous one for NASCAR fans in attendance and around the world, and it likely added some goodwill to Jeff Gluck’s race poll when the time came.
“I don’t think the fans want to see me back off. They loved it when that No. 11 was backed up to the fence,” Hamlin added. “Like you know, they want to see us go for it. That’s why they reward us five bonus points for winning in the playoffs, right? It’s what they want, to see us put it down and go for it. And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. And it didn’t.
“… I was thinking about this, when Jeff [Gluck] and Jordan [Bianchi] were talking about the good race poll. I’m like, surely that combination of me crashing and the No. 9 winning is worth 10 points.”
Denny Hamlin might not be satisfied, but most NASCAR fans after Sunday’s result. We’ll see if the No. 11 can bounce back this weekend at Talladega, at the sport’s most unpredictable track.
More must-reads: