Denny Hamlin believes Phoenix is his weakest track on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, and he recognizes that’s an issue pertaining to the championship that’s eluded him throughout his career.
During the latest episode of Harvick’s Happy Hour, Hamlin sat down for an interview with Kevin Harvick, where he explained why Phoenix has weighed so heavily on his mind, and where he’s looking to improve his driving at the track.
“You know, it’s interesting. That is just, the weakest track for me. And I really haven’t had a lot of answers over the last five years,” Hamlin explained. “Now, 2019. We went there we dominated. We punch our ticket to the final four, that was in Miami then, at the time. So that was the last time I thought we were really good at Phoenix. And when you look at statistics and you break it down and you say, ‘Okay, it’s a new season, where do I need to get better this year?’ There’s always one track that stuck out. That average running position, speed. I was just slower. I was a sixth to eighth place guy, and I have been for the last three years at Phoenix. And so, if that’s the where they’re going to pave the way towards the championship, you better get better there.
“Now, I know you’ve got to get there. But I’ve been to Phoenix so many years and just known, ‘I don’t have the speed,’ or the car doesn’t have the speed. We just haven’t had the it factor in that one particular race. So we really wanted to put an emphasis this year on, ‘Let’s take this spring race is really a learning opportunity, to get better here,’ to give us some confidence that, when I come back here, and I’m racing for a championship, that I’m going to have shot.”
Of course, with all the trouble he’s had at Phoenix, Harvick asked if Hamlin would rather the championship race rotate, like NASCAR originally planned, but the Joe Gibbs Racing wheelman relented that it’s hard to argue with the turnout in the desert.
“You could argue one track or another. It’s hard to argue the results that the fans have showed us, and that is that they turn out that that race track time and time again,” Hamlin stated. “For putting on the best race? No, probably not. I think there’s many other tracks to do that.
“We’re always gonna be limited because of weather. We’re going to always going to be limited because of who owns the track, who owns the date. So that cuts half the tracks out, right? So there’s a lot of red tape, that will always indicate where that championship race will be. But I think we’re going to do it one more time, and then we’ll see what happens.”
For the time being, if Denny Hamlin wants to become a NASCAR Cup Series champion, it’ll have to happen at Phoenix. We’ll see if he’s made enough improvements at the track to get the job done in 2024.
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