Denny Hamlin reacts to Penske New Hampshire domination, shouts out Josh Berry and Joey Logano

Team Penske was dominant in practice and qualifying ahead of Sunday’s Round of 12 opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Their raw speed continued throughout the race as three of its four cars — including Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry which shares a technical alliance with Penske — finished inside the top five.

Ryan Blaney won the race, followed by Berry in second and Joey Logano in fourth. That trio led 273-of-301 laps at New Hampshire. Denny Hamlin said Monday that other than Blaney, Berry was the fastest car at New Hampshire, quite the compliment after Berry’s disastrous Round of 16.

“We had Ryan Blaney win in a dominant fashion — maybe not dominant from a laps led perspective, but from a raw speed, hey, that’s the fastest car on the track, he won from that standpoint. It really started on Saturday in practice,” Hamlin said on his Actions Detrimental podcast. “Penske dominated practice, Penske dominated qualifying, and they dominated the race.

“The closest vehicle I saw closest to Ryan was Josh Berry. He had an exceptional good long run car. He drove the wheels off of it, came from the back of the pack. That didn’t take him long to make his way back to the front and challenge Ryan for that late-race win.”

It was Penske and everyone else at New Hampshire

Most assumed Penske would be the team to beat at New Hampshire after Logano was fast at a tire test there in July. Logano led the most laps, but Hamlin felt Blaney had the better car. He cited both teams’ pit strategies — Blaney was comfortable running through the pack, while Logano prioritized track position.

Logano is the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion. Hamlin believes this was his “strongest race in years.”

“I thought he was strong,” Hamlin said. “A top five run, I mean, they’re the ones that tested up there. I’m wondering how they feel today. On one hand, I would say this was probably one of Logano’s best runs in a few years. Truthfully, when it comes to probably if you look at the overall driver rating and things like that, I feel like this is Logano’s strongest race in years. He doesn’t lead a lot of laps, rarely qualifies on the pole anymore. But he did, he dominated the beginning of the race and while the 12 had a slightly different strategy than what Logano did during the day, where Logano was making sure they did everything to keep him up front. They wanted to keep him with his track position, even if it was taking less tires or no tires.

“Where Blaney’s team says we’re fast enough, we’re gonna be able to come through the pack. So, they took four tires more than the other Penske teammates. While it took a little longer to show, obviously the 12 and the 21 were the two fastest, and then I thought Logano was right there behind them.”