Denny Hamlin struggled greatly during the Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, held as the finale for the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. A collision involving Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota and Tyler Reddick at the frontstretch chicane left his vehicle bearing considerable damage. Despite the incident, Hamlin managed to secure a 14th-place finish, which was crucial for advancing to the Round of 8.
In the race, Hamlin’s car suffered damage to the left rear toe link, causing misalignment and extensive handling issues.
“I was worried about the car because it was hurt,” said Hamlin during his podcast, ‘Actions Detrimental‘. “It was bent in; It looked like it was bent in and up. The rear of my car was not aligned correctly after that wreck. The credit I gotta give is to my team.”
There was visible damage to the rear alignment, and unsurprisingly this affected the car’s turning performance.
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“It was terrible under braking with the damage. Whenever I went to the left, the thing was spinning out and to the right it was crazy tight.”
Mechanics, led by crew chief Chris Gabehart, worked diligently to make adjustments despite the circumstances. The team found a way to balance the car enough for Hamlin to compete respectably.
“They made some good adjustments.
“Chris [Gabehart] said, ‘Look, I’m not gonna be able to fix it, but I’ll give you an adjustment in here to try to help the handling.’ And they did a great job,” Hamlin continued. Their efforts allowed Hamlin to maintain enough of a pace to finish P14.
“They got the balance to where I could at least maintain and hold my spot. I wasn’t lights out by any means. But they gave me a car just good enough to get a top 15 finish.”
Continuing to the Round of 8, Hamlin faces stiff competition from the likes of Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Joey Logano, alongside contenders eyeing their first title, like Christopher Bell, William Byron, and Reddick. Hamlin, starting from eighth place below the cutline for the next race in Las Vegas, needs to maintain a steady performance to remain in title contention.
The difficult race at Charlotte was a vivid illustration of the challenges posed by the track which is a mix of oval and road-course shapes, where balancing aggressiveness with caution is key.
“It’s such a tough spot to be in,” Hamlin admitted. “The only thing that really can hurt you is a really detrimental day so you can’t be as aggressive as you really want to.”
Driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, with victories including three Daytona 500 wins, Hamlin is one of the sport’s greats.
“Great vibe, great job by this Sports Clips Haircuts Toyota team. Chris Gabehart and the team just did an awesome job of keeping us in it,” Hamlin concludes. “Luckily we were able to come away with a top 15 there.”
