Denny Hamlin revealed when he knew Pocono Cup Series race on Sunday “was lost” to Ryan Blaney . On the latest episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin explained why he finished second behind the reigning Cup Series champion.
“If the race goes into a super-long run, I always like our chances in a really long run,” Hamlin said. “The reason I like that is that the tires fall off. They get hot, they start wearing out. At that point, the leader, while he is still in clean air, he’s fighting his car. There’s a more likely scenario of him missing his lines or his apexes when the tires are hotter. He then backs up corners, and the next thing you know as running second you get a big draft down the straightaway, let’s just go the opposite direction of him in the corner, and let’s just see who has more grip.
“I just think that at that point I needed the race to go full green, the 40 laps, or just needed things to work out on restarts, and neither one did.”
Hamlin was then asked if the better car won on Sunday. “That’s so subjective,” Hamlin replied. “It’d be easy sitting in my seat to say ‘Oh we had the best car because we drove through the pack and we were able to do things others didn’t, but a deserving car won the race yesterday. It wasn’t a fluky deal by any means.”
Denny Hamlin happy to be out of ‘terrible slump’
Every time Hamlin is on the race track, he expects to win. And while he came up short on Sunday, the 43-year-old had one of the best outings in recent weeks. Hamlin finished second in Stage 1 of the race and won Stage 2 to add a playoff point. His P2 finish is the best finish since finishing second at Gateway on June 2.
“We were in such a terrible slump. We were terrible for a month and a half or so in our finishes, not in our performance,” Hamlin said after the Pocono Race. “Feels good to have at least a solid day leaving here. I only care about winning, but still this kind of rebound is something that at least makes you feel a little better.”
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