Denny Hamlin claims JGR's no weak track dominance ahead of Bristol playoff race

Denny Hamlin has suggested that Joe Gibbs Racing has no weak track in the upcoming playoff stretch. He shared that the team had its setbacks early in the season, but now has it figured out and should have a 'shot to win' in every race going forward.

Hamlin stands atop the playoff standings with a win at the recently concluded Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway. The race also marked his second consecutive weekend with a pole start.

This season, his weak tracks have been road courses and super speedways, where he has consistently finished with a mid-pack result. The Chicago Street race is his only exception, with a fourth-place finish. Meanwhile, short tracks and intermediates have been his strong suit, with two consecutive wins coming from Martinsville and Darlington.

During a press conference at Bristol Motor Speedway, Hamlin was asked about Kyle Larson's comments about JGR's dominance in almost every other track. He replied (via YouTube/Cup Scene, 4:39 onwards):

"I feel as though that the Gibbs team in general doesn't have a weak track, but we had weak performances earlier in the year. If you look at Las Vegas,I don't think any of our cars were fast at that race. I can think of maybe one or two other races early in the season where we all kind of struggled and they were typically tracks where we're were pretty strong."

"And so I think we've I think we've hemmed that up a little bit to where we've identified some of the philosophies that we did that weren't exactly right. So now, yeah, certainly every weekend we go there and one of the Gibbs cars should be in the top three or so in speed and have a shot to win," he added.

Heading into Round 3 of the playoffs, Denny Hamlin secured a third-row qualifying grid slot at Bristol Motor Speedway. He starts sixth, one spot behind the defending winner at the half-mile concrete, Kyle Larson.

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Denny Hamlin shares uncertainty on new tires for Bristol

Goodyear has introduced softer right-side tires for the 500-lap event at Bristol Motor Speedway. The dual-tire compound strategy was last implemented at Phoenix, where an option tire was used to gain speed against faster tire wear. This weekend, it has been implemented to address Bristol's lack of tire falloff, and Denny Hamlin shared his take on it.

"So there's been no tire test. We're all coming in this pretty cold and so certainly feel like there's an opportunity there to create comers and goers....So certainly I think there's you know a higher level of anticipation because of that," he said via aforementioned source.

The high-banked oval has become notorious for its lack of tire wear. This year, the issue was most evident when Kyle Larson led a dominant 411 out of 500 laps in the spring Bristol race. In the same event, Denny Hamlin made a marginal gain from his fourth-place start and finished runner-up. The result denied him a hat-trick of wins.

Saturday's (September 13) Bass Pro Shops Night Race is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.