Denny Hamlin proved yet again why he is the list of NASCAR’s all-time grates at Bristol. He won the Food City 500 taking advantage of his tier management prowess as the Goodyear tier used had extreme fall-off drivers have never previously experienced. It was Hamlin’s 52 NASCAR career Cup race victory and with the season he is having it won’t be his first of 2024.
2014 NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Kevin Harvick, while talking about Denny Hamlin’s victory last week, revealed a key factor of the No:11 teams’ impressive performance. He pointed out that the three-times Daytona 500 winner’s relationship with his crew chief Chris Gabehart and how much he trust ex-racer is benefiting him.
And anything that Chris says to Denny. it’s just like ‘Yes sir, yep I’m going to do it. He’s telling me, I believe it’. And if he’s telling me to drive off the cliff, I’m going to go drive off the cliff and that’s what you want in that driver crew chief combination, Kevin Harvick said via Happy Hours podcast.
Chris Gabehart joined Denny Hamlin in the 2019 season after having successful stint with JGR’s Xfinity Series team. In their five years together, they have won 21 races, including back-to-back Daytona 500 wins. They have been in the championship top-5 in the all five season they have raced together.
Kevin Harvick claims Denny Hamlin should’ve won the Phenix race
Harvick, while detailing the Gabehart-Hamlin relationship, pointed out that Bristol should’ve been a second straight win for Hamlin. He said that the No:11 team deserved to win the race at Phoenix the week before. They would’ve won it over Christopher Bell if not for the late race spin.
I can tell you it’s the year right now. They should have won last week, too. They had a shot to win last week and Denny spun out, and that was one of my favorite speeches that I’ve heard from Chris Gabehart, just saying, ‘Hey stuff happens and we need to regroup, get everything we can out of the day’, and here they are the very next week in Victory Lane in some very unique circumstances. Harvick said.
Harvick during the podcast has also mentioned that with the consistent start he had to the season, he has proved that the No:11 team would be contenders in 2024. Harvick believes with consistent performance Hamlin could be the champion this season.
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