Denny Hamlin sounds off on quality of NASCAR Cup race at Richmond, shouts out Goodyear

Denny Hamlin was satisfied with the quality of racing at Richmond Raceway this past weekend. The Joe Gibbs Racing wheelman believes Goodyear deserves a ton of credit for the tire they brought to the track this time around.

That’s what Hamlin believes was the main difference in this season’s trip to Richmond, compared to the last couple of times the NASCAR Cup Series headed to the track. During the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, the 44-year-old heaped praise on the competitive racing we saw in Virginia this past Saturday.

“It was good to see a great short-track race,” Hamlin stated. “Some great tire fall-off. Thank you Goodyear, for bringing a tire that had over two to two-and-a-half seconds of fall-off. Fantastic. Richmond was kind of one of the very first short-tracks that was getting the, ‘Oh man, this is kind of boring’ type-feel, right? It’s good to see that the tires do matter.

“I think the fans on TV and in the stands, they got to see drivers make moves and pass. … I thought it was a good race. I can speak about this, because I participate in the race. I drive the cars. I know how difficult it is to pass during this race versus the previous, versus the previous, versus 10 years ago, versus 20 years ago. I know because I did it.”

Evidently, the racing at Richmond reminded Hamlin of the track’s past glory: “This was more like — I don’t wanna overstep here, but a Generation Five Cup car. After about 15, 20 laps, you could make passes on people,” he explained. “The speed started to separate enough to create the passes.

“When they had the harder tire last year, you had to sit behind somebody for 30 to 40 laps, and then hell, you’re going to be pitting in 15 laps. So, the window of passes was really, really small last year. If you look at the lines, the ranks and positions, everyone just is stagnant.”

“Then right before the pit, there’s some changing of positions, and then people start pitting. This one was more stagnant at the beginning to be expected. Everyone had a lot of grip, because the tires had a lot of grip. Then, all of a sudden, people start passing. It’s like, that’s what we wanted to see.”

All told, Hamlin’s sentiment is a welcomed one, as NASCAR fans have been clamoring for better racing at tracks like Richmond over the past couple of seasons. If Goodyear brings this tire to tracks like Martinsville and New Hampshire, the veteran wheelman believes the impressive racing will continue.

“That puts it back into the driver’s hands, and hopefully this is something that — this will be our Loudon tire, as well. Something to look forward to there,” the three-time Daytona 500 winner said. “It seems like they’re trying to make this our standard short-track tire.

“I believe it’s the same as Martinsville. Now Richmond, Loudon. I’m sure there’s another in there. But we’ve softened up the tires. It’s really a good thing.”

After a great weekend at Richmond, Denny Hamlin and the Cup Series will move to their regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway. He’ll be one of the favorites at the premier track, as always. We’ll see if he can get the job done in Florida this weekend.