Denny Hamlin falls short again in quest for NASCAR title: ‘I keep crapping out’

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — There were no overt signs of frustration or anger as Denny Hamlin leaned against his car on Martinsville Speedway’s pit road in the immediate aftermath of a third-place finish in Sunday’s Cup Series playoff elimination race. This was in spite of delivering a result not good enough for him to avoid being one of four drivers eliminated.

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He just stood there, looking forward, saying little. Any outwardly expressed frustration or anger by Hamlin would’ve been understandable. After all, he and his Joe Gibbs Racing team had speed, executed close to flawlessly and performed at a high level. In a race necessitating that they bring their “A” game, they did nearly everything well. Hamlin won the first stage, finished second in Stage 2 and third overall.

But the one thing he didn’t do was win. And, ultimately, that was the difference between advancing to the championship round and his title hopes being extinguished. His pursuit of winning that first series championship will have to wait at least another year.

“I was just really happy with our performance,” Hamlin said. “I can’t tell you the mindset of the years that I’ve had where I f— up and I knew that I kept us from going to the next round or winning a championship. I just know that’s all I’ve got. That’s all I’ve got in my tank. Pushing every lap.

“I can’t second-guess or doubt myself because I know that there’s nothing else I could have done. Absolutely nothing else.”

As Hamlin leaned against his No. 11 Toyota, decompressing, behind him Ryan Blaney celebrated his win at Martinsville. Blaney is advancing to the Championship 4 where he’ll face off against Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and William Byron for the 2023 title.

For Hamlin, Sunday marked the second year in a row he was knocked out of the playoffs at Martinsville. Similar to last year, his elimination was a surprise and also came despite doing just about everything he could to advance.

Last year, Ross Chastain’s “Hail Melon” was the culprit as to why Hamlin didn’t move forward. On Sunday, there was no miraculous last-lap maneuver that prevented him from doing so. With how the race played out, he either needed to win or outscore Byron, who ultimately claimed the final transfer spot by eight points.

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The reason why Hamlin’s playoff ended Sunday can be traced back to what transpired a week ago at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In that race, he was running solidly inside the top five when an issue with the power steering caused him to crash, costing him a multitude of valuable points. Instead of being well positioned to reach the Championship 4, he found himself 17 points below the cut line.

So it goes for Hamlin in the playoffs. Sunday was just a continuation of a longstanding theme that has often hampered him during this juncture of the season, where factors outside his control have frequently caused his downfall.

Such as when a broken roof hatch led to a second-round elimination from the 2015 playoff, or in 2019 when a large piece of tape was not applied properly to the nose of his car during a pit stop in the championship final, causing his engine to overheat.

“It just seems like I’ve just been unlucky in the playoffs,” Hamlin said. “I can’t remember too many years where it’s like, ‘Wow, we’re not good enough to be in the final four.’ There’s been a few years, but not that many. We’re probably fifth in points now, probably going to finish five straight years in the top five. We’re doing great. I couldn’t be with a better team. It’s just, I keep crapping out. I can’t hit a point on the crap board.”

Hamlin accepts that he may never win a championship. He finds solace that, more often than not, he is one of the best-performing drivers during the regular season, and the statistics he’s amassed over his 18-year career unquestionably make him one of the very best of his generation. His 51 wins are the most of any driver never to have won a Cup championship.

There is also the fact, he said, that this elimination era of the playoffs creates scenarios where the best driver and team through the course of the season isn’t always the one holding the championship trophy.

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“We didn’t fall short on performance,” Hamlin said. “We performed fine, but luck is a factor in this sport, and when you take small sample sizes to crown champions, sometimes if the luck doesn’t fall your way, you’re going to get left out. I’ve just been unlucky in the playoffs.”

Hamlin’s viewpoint on the championship format has merits. The No. 11 team was again elite this year, both during the regular season and the playoffs. And once again, they aren’t one of the four finalists.

But the semifinal playoff round requires near perfection from teams, offering little margin for error. And if they do stumble, they have to be able to win to overcome the setback. Unfortunately for Hamlin, the deficit he found himself in after Homestead couldn’t be offset with a third-place finish at Martinsville.

Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gabehart had this to say: “The things that happened last week, you guys are never going to know the details about them, but I do, and ultimately, there’s no luck in that. Luck is for weak people.

“That’s just the way I choose to view it because those are the things I can control. I can’t control this X-factor, black cat crap. I can control being good enough to be up front and lead all the laps of every race and win every race and I can control not having a power steering failure last week — and when I say ‘I,’ I mean the team. So we just have to be better.”

Whether Hamlin’s latest playoff exit is because of luck or a lack of execution can be debated. Regardless of your perspective, the end result is still the same.

“If you can be someone that wins 50, 60, 70 races, those are the people that show up each week,” Hamlin said. “We gave our best effort and raced the format. It’s tough when you have little hiccups like last week that will throw dirt on your whole season.”

GO DEEPER

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(Photo of Denny Hamlin after Sunday’s race: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)