Psychologist advises Hamlin,
Psychologist tries to reverse driver’s Dover fortunes
CHARLOTTE Forgive Denny Hamlin if he has that faraway gaze this weekend. He’s falling in love. Well, he’s trying to fall in love. His affections, though, aren’t toward a person but a place — Dover International Speedway.
Hamlin, who has won three of the last five series races, has openly admitted that Dover is his worst track in NASCAR’s 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup. Complicating Hamlin’s situation is that Dover is likely the best track for points leader Jimmie Johnson, who has won four of the last seven races there, including in June.
Hamlin is third in the standings, trailing Johnson by seven points.
It is for such mental hurdles that Hamlin first consulted Bob Rotella, a sports psychologist known for his work with pro golfers such as Rory McIlroy and other athletes, last year.
As he sought advice on Dover this week, Hamlin challenged Rotella to give him something extra meaningful. Hamlin revealed a text-message exchange he had with Rotella to a handful of news reporters Tuesday.
Hamlin first texted Rotella: “I need some positive influence on the week coming up. It’s my worst track.”
Rotella responded: “Let your challenge for the week be to fall in love with this track. From the moment you arrive, look at things to love about it and reasons to love it. All week look for things great and special to happen to you.
“Embrace the challenge of having your best attitude that you’ve ever had this week. Take pride in showing yourself how strong your mind is. Own your mind and own the racetrack that you race. Control your attitude and let your emotions own the world. Have fun.”
Simple enough yet so hard to do for any driver, let alone Hamlin, who has had two top-10 finishes in his last 10 starts there and an average finish of 24.2 during that stretch.
Hamlin also planned to talk to Rotella this week and discuss Sunday’s AAA 400. For all that Rotella tells him, Hamlin knows winning the mental game alone can’t help him conquer the 1-mile, concrete oval.
“(Rotella) is not going to make me run better or worse,” Hamlin said. “It’s just going to (help) handle the situation better.”
Even for a driver who dominated last weekend’s race, leading 193 of 300 laps en route to his victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, that won’t be easy.
“I don’t know if it’s the concrete or what it is that has thrown me for a loop in my career,” said Hamlin, 18th at Dover in June. “Historically, I haven’t run good on concrete, but we won (at) Bristol (Motor Speedway last month). That gives me a lot of optimism that we’ve hit on something that hopefully will work this weekend.”