Denny Hamlin likes the way the Chase format sets up for his team
When Denny Hamlin saw the new Chase format come out in January, he was immediately optimistic.
“You don’t want to draw too much attention to yourself, but I believe that as soon as I saw this grid and how it all worked out and the Chase tracks I was like, ‘Wow, this is like tailor made for us,’" Hamlin said Thursday. "It really is, we just have to get to that eliminator eight or whatever it’s called and that’s when we get into the wheelhouse of our race tracks that we’ve performed at in the past. For us I think that if we can make it to Homestead and have a shot, we go from being the extreme underdogs going into this probably to the favorite being that we’ve won there over the last couple years. Who knows how it all plays out. You have to get there first and you can’t look that far ahead. Our focus is here in Chicago, but you have to be consistent I believe these first two rounds and get yourself in position for those last four races.”
At the beginning of the year, Hamlin got off to a bit of a rocky start; his win at Talladega in his ninth race of 2014 was just his third top 10 to that point. But Hamlin got better in the summer months and had a stretch of six top tens in eight races.
That stretch included Indianapolis, where Hamlin finished third. But after the race, NASCAR found something in inspection with fire wall blockoff plates on Hamlin's car. Crew chief Darian Grubb was suspended for six races.
The suspension is now over at a perfect time; the beginning of the Chase. Could his return boost Hamlin's chances? Hamlin certainly thinks so, especially if Grubb can make a late call to outfox the competition. Grubb, who won the 2011 Chase with Tony Stewart, was with Hamlin in 2012 when he finished sixth.
“He’s been working really hard (over the last six weeks) and I think a lot of it is that he says he’s learned how races play out by watching them and seeing live data — able to have really papers all around him of strategies and stuff that he can use for races that are coming up," Hamlin said. "I think that he’s been able to analyze everything he could and spend more time doing that stuff. Hopefully it all pays off with the right call at the end of the race that nobody else thought of.”
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
