"Chase Elliott has gone overlooked": Denny Hamlin explains treading championship hopes in 'tough' NASCAR format

Denny Hamlin recently opened up on the conversation surrounding him potentially winning the championship this season after his Dover win. Hamlin earned his fourth win of the season at Dover, marking the current campaign his best at this stage of the year since 2020.

It's also worth mentioning that so far in his long and illustrious career at NASCAR's highest level, Denny Hamlin has yet to win a Cup title. At Dover, he was asked whether he finds it weird not being part of the championship talks despite being the season wins leader.

Hamlin claimed that the championship comes down to one race, and for him, his target is reaching the final eight, which he expects to do every year.

"That's why I think the regular season championship is like really high. I hold it in super high regard because it's 26 races and there's not eliminations and there are not any of that other stuff, right? And when when you look at the standings, Chase Elliott has gone overlooked. He's just been really consistent. There's guys at the top that's stubbed their toe. He hasn't. But you can't deny that when you look at the racetrack out there today, we were all running like one through five, right? So, it's not an accident that the same five guys running up front every single week. It's just a matter of, 'Can those five guys make it through this type of format in playoffs?,'" Hamlin described [10:00 onwards].

He mentioned that the format is a 'tough' one in which the season is shortened into three races, where 'anything can happen.' Having said that, Denny Hamlin emphasized that he cares about wins while also wanting to win more trophies.

But his goal for when he reaches the end of his career is to be in the top 10 of all-time race winners. This, as per Hamlin, would mean more to him than any other accomplishment.

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Denny Hamlin explains how he has adapted his style for success in the late stages of his NASCAR career

Following his Dover win, Denny Hamlin was asked what he had changed about his approach over the years that has made him more successful at this stage of his career. The #11 driver said it is a two-fold thing.

The first change involves adopting a style similar to that of Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson, while the second change focuses on how he communicates with his team to improve his car, identifies where he is losing time, and executes strategies to increase his speed.

"NASCAR racing is an emotional game where it's just you can really kind of get caught up in s*** that doesn't matter. So I just try to look at it from a very straightforward point of view, numbers point of view, find out where I'm bad, analyze what I'm doing, analyze the best, and then figure out how I can go faster like them, and then give that information to the team," he explained [8:00 onwards].

Denny Hamlin added that it typically takes him longer to give his team feedback because he likes to analyze things. He insisted he has to make sure his feedback is right before he communicates it.

But overall, the shift is about changing his mentality on the process and his execution.