Denny Hamlin hears people talking about his slow start. And he hears other teams being praised for their fast start.
Denny Hamlin To Everyone: Slow Start Is Normal For 11 Team
But in his mind, it’s too early in the season for any of it to make a difference.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said Friday after his qualifying lap. “It’s a bunch of shit, really. It’s dumb. But people need something to talk about, and for us, it’s just we’re slow starters. We’ve always been slow starters and it’s just a characteristic of our race team.”
Hamlin’s season thus far has included finishes of 17th, 29th and 19th, which puts him 21st in points heading into Atlanta.
He predicted before the season that his team would fly under the radar with average finishes early in the year as they prepared for the summer stretch run and the Chase.
But he acknowledged his frustration that those runs haven’t been as good as expected.
“It’s always frustrating, because we just won the race [at Homestead] three or four races ago,” he said. “To go from a race-winning car or a top-three car from the end of last season…look, at the end of last season, everyone has the best of everything they’ve got on the racetrack. Everything they’ve learned the whole season is what they’ve got.
“At the beginning of the season, sometimes it takes awhile for teams to get caught up with race cars, building new cars, things like that.”
Hamlin indicated that he feels it’s the same with his team. He said his cars are “the same” as they were last year, but that everyone else has picked up speed.
And regarding his comments in a USA Today diary in which he noted Toyota motors need more power?
“I just felt like Hendrick has been the standard,” he said. “It’s common knowledge to everyone that they have the best stuff. For us, I think we’re a little bit behind in that department, that’s all.”
Hamlin insisted – firmly – that he’s not making any declarations at this point in the season about anyone’s chances, and questioned those who do.
“People talk about guys that are in the top 10, top 15 in points right now [as being contenders],” he said. “They talk about them every single year, and then the next thing you know, they’re 30th at the end of the year.
“It takes us awhile to get in the swing of the season. For us, it takes awhile.”
See More:
