EVEN SECOND, HAMLIN KNOWS HE’S NOT SECURE
In same situation in 2014, Busch played it safe, still was eliminated at Talladega
Denny Hamlin has seen this one before: Joe Gibbs Racing driver, nestled at second in points exiting Kansas Speedway and theoretically insulated from mayhem entering the second elimination race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Talladega Superspeedway.
Last season that JGR driver was Kyle Busch. This season it’s Hamlin. For Busch, the security was an illusion. Racing conservatively deep in the pack — with the goal of being able to assess and avoid the inevitable mass pileups that influence racing at restrictor-plate tracks — Busch was hit from behind by Austin Dillon after avoiding an accident, sustained crushing damage to the No. 18 Toyota and finished 40th. He fell to ninth in the standings and missed advancement by four points.
Hamlin knows better than to assume any position inside the Chase boundary is steadfast without a win to assure advancement.
“I’ll be honest with you, I’m not comfortable with where I am personally in the points,” he said Sunday after finishing second at Kansas Speedway. “We’re not locked in, and there’s no guarantee. We saw last year with Kyle, riding in the back was dangerous, also. But I have to look at the positives. I mean, we’ve finished fourth and second now in this round, and that gives us a little buffer at Talladega.
“It looks like right behind me there’s a big group of guys that all probably will be battling up front all day. Only one of them can win, but I just — I don’t think I can go out there and finish 25th and move on.”
That group includes restrictor-plate winners Brad Keselowski (fifth in points), Kevin Harvick (sixth) and Jeff Gordon (seventh). Twelve points separate second from the eighth-place cutoff spot currently held by Martin Truex Jr. Points leader Joey Logano was won both races in the second round, which leaves another points transfer spot for the taking.
Hamlin didn’t imply that a Busch-like defense strategy would work for him this Sunday at Talladega, where he has a win in the 2014 spring race, four top-fives and seven top-10s in 19 starts.
Hamlin led laps in 14 of those races but just 12 in the win. He passed Harvick to lead the final two laps, defended the position and won when a caution froze the field in a green-white-checkered finish. It was Hamlin’s first restrictor-plate points victory.
“The success that I’ve had at Talladega has come from trying to run up front every single lap,” Hamlin said. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s going to be one of those guys behind me that I have ... if I’m going to ride in the back, that I’m going to assume is going to win the race. That moves my points position down even further.
“I just don’t know the proper way to do it. You always think that there’s going to be a big wreck there that takes out a lot of cars, but there wasn’t last year, so I don’t know. We’ll think about it. But my gut feeling is we’ll probably have to go there and race hard.”
And check the scoring monitor just as hard when it’s over.