Despite not winning in Nashville, Denny Hamlin highlights key reason why he was “happy” with third-place finish

Denny Hamlin may not have won at Nashville Superspeedway, but he was pleased with his performance, citing that he scored a lot of points over the race weekend. He finished third in his 700th start in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Hamlin, 44, started the Nashville race in second place behind Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe. The #11 Toyota driver won stage one and concluded stage two in third before crossing the finish line in third behind race winner Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar.

With strong finishes throughout the 300-lapper, Denny Hamlin collected 53 points, which include an extra point for earning the Xfinity Fastest Lap. That was the second-most points earned last Sunday after Blaney's 54-point outing.

In a post-race interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, the Virginia native said he was happy with his race despite not taking the checkered flag.

“I was happy with it... scored a lot of points,” Hamlin stated.

He also didn't mind losing to a better team.

“Got beat by a better driver, better car today. I'm not as upset as I talked about earlier in the week. The frustrations when you have a good car and you don't finish the deal. We just weren't the best,” he added.

After laying out the #11 JGR team's late race strategy to try to take the lead from Ryan Blaney, Hamlin concluded by appreciating Blaney and his crew.

“Just never quite got it. They dialed their stuff in as the day went on. We just didn't get much better.” [0:42]

The third-place finish at Charlotte was a much-needed result following last week's late pit road blunder at Charlotte Motor Speedway that put Hamlin out of contention for the win. Moreover, Hamlin was back in the top 10 after a second-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway six weeks ago.

He now has two wins, six top-5s, and seven top-10s. His two wins came back-to-back at Martinsville Speedway and Darlington Raceway.

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“They just had a lot of speed”: Denny Hamlin on losing to Ryan Blaney at Nashville

Denny Hamlin argued that the #12 Team Penske Ford of Ryan Blaney was the better car at Nashville Superspeedway. He tried to keep up, but his #11 Toyota fell off after his tires clocked about 40 laps around the 1.33-mile track.

PRN shared the 56-time Cup race winner's post-race statement from Nashville on X.

“Just needed to be a little faster. The 12 had exceptional long-run speed, just couldn't hang with him after about 40 laps on tires. They just had a lot of speed, we were kind of next in line,” PRN quoting Hamlin.

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“Just needed to be a little faster. The 12 had exceptional long-run speed, just couldn't hang with him after about 40 laps on tires. They just had a lot of speed, we were kind of next in line.”

The 2025 Cracker Barrel 400 witnessed Ryan Blaney earn his first win of the year. Hamlin, who finished in third place, was followed by Joey Logano and William Byron. Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, and Christopher Bell completed the top 10.

Next on the schedule is the Firekeepers Casino 400 from Michigan International Speedway. The 200-lap Michigan race will precede the inaugural Mexico City stop, which will be held at the renowned Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.