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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Denny Hamlin kicks off his 19th NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs this weekend at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
Hamlin, who has won 59 NASCAR Cup Series races, is still chasing his first championship.
A winner of four races aboard the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Hamlin is the most experienced driver in the playoff field.
“It’s just another chance to roll the dice. That’s it,” Hamlin said. “I don’t feel any better or any worse than what I have last year or the year before that or the year before that. They’re all very, very similar. I feel as though our team is as strong as it’s ever been, but we’ve seen in the short sample size, it’s just a matter of whether you get unlucky at times or you catch a caution at the right time or not.
“Do you stub your toe on pit road? Those are the small things that decide whether you move on in the Playoffs or not.”
Hamlin says his Chris Gayle-led team has some unique strengths that could help it along the 10-week playoff route.
“Our strengths are just conventional ovals. Anything that turns left is going to be our strength,” Hamlin explained. “We’re in the unique position, there’s truthfully about four or five of us that are the fastest cars every single week and there’s others, right? It’s just, do you have enough of a head start through your Playoff points and whatnot to keep moving on? Do you have enough to sustain a bad day that everyone has during the course of a season?
“The challenge will be obviously Talladega. I don’t think I’ve avoided a superspeedway wreck in about 10 years now – or it feels that way,” he said. “And then, what happens at the Roval, right? There’re so many different strategies and stuff that can happen. What points position are you in before you get to there? A lot of that will be dictated in the first couple races of that round.”
Hamlin, 44, enters the Playoffs ranked third in the standings and believes experience is on his side.
“I think for everyone, it’s a little bit different. I think it depends on who you are. If it’s your third or fourth time doing this, you’re probably still very nervous today and tomorrow and the next day,” Hamlin said candidly. “I am certainly not. It’s not even a thought of mine. It’s just another race and again it’s another opportunity for me to win. I try not to think about too much or hyper focus on these small moments that will decide whether you move on or not.
“I just try to put the big picture in mind and do the best I can and I’m going to be OK with the result. But every person is different, and every driver is going to give you a different answer on that because of what their level of confidence is or how nervous they are?”
Hamlin believes these Playoffs are shaping up similarly to past seasons.
“Very similar. I’ve been confident before but also had my heart broke for something out of my control. I just try to do the best I can to play it day by day and week by week,” he said. “Right now, the focus is all on Darlington. I haven’t looked at one shred of thing from St. Louis. It’s not even on the radar. I’m so week to week with my goals that I feel as though, let’s just somehow figure out how to get to 60 wins before the end of the season, and if I can do that it’s probably going to put myself in a pretty good position to win.”
