While he is one of NASCAR’s oldest active drivers, Denny Hamlin is also one of the most accomplished. The 44-year-old racer has aged like fine wine and knows how to utilize his years of experience to his advantage. With his current form, the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver gives racers half his age a serious run for their money.
Though Hamlin makes arriving in the victory lane multiple times each season look easy, it is far from the truth. Besides, the No. 11 driver had to have a secret behind maintaining his top-notch form.
In the recent episode of “Actions Detrimental,” Hamlin revealed how he determines his form before every race day.
Denny Hamlin’s Secret Formula To Predict His Finishing Positions on Sunday
The win at the FireKeepers Casino 400 was one of the closest wins of the season for Hamlin. A trip to the victory lane at Michigan was Hamlin’s third of the season and 57th overall of his Cup Series career.
Hamlin also became the highest-winning driver for his team, JGR, a record previously held by Kyle Busch, who had 56 victories. He also became the 10th driver in NASCAR to win a race after 700 starts in the sport.
On the latest episode of his podcast “Actions Detrimental,” the No. 11 driver broke down the reason behind his confidence.
It started when Hamlin and his co-host, Jared Allen, started talking about the origins behind his “O-H” sign during the victory celebrations. On the group chat with his podcast team, Hamlin was asked to do the Ohio State Buckeye celebration, to which he responded, “I will after I win [the Michigan race].” After reading it, Allen replied, “Oh, you [Hamlin] must be pretty confident.”
Hamlin further broke down the topic and revealed that he does not praise his race car excessively often. However, he only does it when he is highly confident in it. He said:
“I ever say, ‘Oh, pretty good!’ that means we’re really good. I can just tell you how to offset that when you hear it from me.”
The No. 11 driver also mentioned his belief in the “under-promising and over-delivering” philosophy. This prompted Allen to highlight that Hamlin had one of his best practice runs of the season on Saturday.
Hamlin further admitted that his run on Saturday was a big cue for him to determine how things would pan out at Sunday’s Cup race. “If I’m ever in like the top five of practice or remotely close to it, we’re probably going to be pretty good on Sunday,” the JGR driver added.
He further mentioned how factors like dirty air, track temperature, and car grip change when multiple cars race on the track. With these into play, the car setup matters more than most would imagine, and that is precisely what Hamlin bets on.
“There’s guys that historically just practice really fast every single Saturday, and you know what happens on Sunday. Anyone can be fast when they’re out front leading a race. Everyone’s going to be fast in that scenario, but can you outrun your position?” Hamlin said.
But the crux lies in how, despite lacking outright speed on Saturdays in several races, Hamlin has repeatedly drawn on his seasoned instincts to muscle his way to the front under uncharted conditions — a key reason he remains one of the steadiest hands of his generation in NASCAR.