Denny Hamlin contends for the win in Kansas (Photo: Cole Penning | The Podium Finish)
KANSAS CITY, KS. – Denny Hamlin left the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway with a second place finish, behind Tyler Reddick in the No. 45.
Hamlin’s qualifying efforts on Saturday left speed to be desired out of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing car, with him qualifying 14th. Throughout the first stage, however, the four-time Kansas winner gained track position and drove to a seventh place stage finish.
By the end of Stage 2, the 42-year-old picked up even more track position, working his way up to a second place stage finish. The No. 11 car showed the same speed throughout Stage 3, even taking the lead from Tyler Reddick on Lap 187, surrendering the lead on Lap 216 to pit. Hamlin was able to work his way back up to second place, but was not able to secure the lead again after the final restart of the race on Lap 267.
After the race, the Chesterfield, Virginia native spoke about what he felt prevented him from being able to maintain the lead in the closing laps of the race.
“Everything was there that we needed to win the race,” Hamlin said. “Just the 5 (Kyle Larson) lagging back on us really hurt. It’s super advantageous to lag back if you can get away with it, and it just seemed like at the end of the race he really let that stuff go and I’m trying to back up to him because I can’t afford to let him just lag way back and then split us three wide so I back up, field goes green [and] I’m sitting there in no man’s land. So, it’s just a bad scenario and it allowed the 45 to hit the gap that I wanted to hit in the middle of [Turn] 1 and 2. So, [to] battle is okay, but certainly it was a tough caution that wasn’t good for us.”
Notably, Hamlin also spoke after the race about Tyler Reddick winning the race, and what that dynamic is like on race days and the track as an owner and driver.
“I’m not enjoying the 45 winning right in this second for sure,” Hamlin said. “I mean on Sundays certainly I’m a driver first. When it was our [23XI Racing] first couple, you’re super excited for him. This one just stings a little more for me personally, just having a car dominant at the end and not winning that’s what stings more than anything and you’re just counting down laps at the end waiting on somebody to cause a caution. You can’t avoid it, you just hope that the strategy works out and I thought our pit call was right, I just didn’t do a good job on that restart.”
Leaving Kansas, Hamlin sits 49 point above the cut line in the Cup Series Playoffs and also mentioned how he feels in regards to the playoffs going into Bristol Motor Speedway next week.
“Yeah, I think we’re going to be far enough ahead, we’re just going to race it like we are advancing. We’re going to race to win the race. We’re going to try to do whatever we can to flip stages ad not care about stage points to go out there and give us the best opportunity to win, similar to the 5 (Kyle Larson) and the 45.”
