Denny Hamlin Reveals How He Broke His Road Course Curse by 'Saving and Taking It Easy' in Chicago

Speaking in the post-race session, the 44-year-old revealed that he had been conserving fuel while maintaining a good pace throughout the race. This was a straightforward yet fruitful move that propelled him to his unexpected finish in downtown Chicago. 

"Well, I was saving the entire run and still able to run excellent lap times," Denny Hamlin said. "Truthfully, I felt pretty good all day. We marched forward all day long. The car had pace in it—that's key to getting a good finish.

"Once I was able to get towards the front, I could save and take it easy on the tires. I would've loved to be on equal terms to see how far off I was from those two guys, but it just didn't seem like that much." 

Noting his team's effort in their last-minute engine fix, he dedicated his fourth-placed finish to his crew chief, Chris Gayle, and his Toyota team members. 

"Gotta give great credit to Chris Gayle and the progressive Toyota team," said Hamlin."Yesterday went rough—just not one of those days we needed. Today, we bounced back and executed well.

"This is one of the first green races where we didn't have any issues on a road course. This is the kind of finish and the kind of pace that we can have when we don't have incidents."

Finally breaking his road course curse, the Joe Gibbs full-timer will surely try to repeat this impressive run at Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 race. However, he needs to pull off another clever play at the Sonoma Raceway, as it's another road course.