Denny Hamlin delivers a reality check after controversial race: “Atlanta is what most drivers would aspire Daytona and Talladega to be”

Denny Hamlin has laid bare why he believes Atlanta Motor Speedway has the edge over Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. Atlanta got mired by the final lap controversy that resulted in the #11 driver's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell's triumph, however, Hamlin explained why most drivers dream of Daytona and Talladega to produce Atlanta-like racing.

Atlanta's 1.54-mile oval has held the superspeedway status since 1960, when it debuted in the Cup Series. However, the most recent configuration in 2021, which became available for use from the 2022 season, was done to enhance superspeedway racing. It made Atlanta the third drafting track after Daytona and Talladega. The changes included a facelift, with the width of the track shrunken by 15 feet, and the banking on the runs elevated to 28 degrees from 24.

Despite being a drafting track like Daytona's 2.5-mile oval and Talladega's 2.66-mile tri-oval, Atlanta's oval measures over a mile less. Thus, the straightaways are shorter and would make drafting a challenging affair; something Denny Hamlin pressed upon as he explained how harmony between speed, setup, and overall team performance becomes the prime factor in Atlanta.

"Atlanta is what I think most drivers would aspire Daytona and Talladega to be. From the standpoint that it takes skill to draft, it's got some handling, you can have handling issues, which, you know setup will matter, you can build your car differently...the team plays such a big role in it, like, hey, 'Do you wanna have better handling you want to be faster?' Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental (3:46).

Denny Hamlin expresses his opinions on Carson Hocevar's questionable driving at the Atlanta Motor Speedway

Carson Hocevar posted his career-best Cup Series finish after putting his #77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet in second place. However, the sophomore driver caught immense limelight for how he raced in the 400-mile battle.

Hocevar was spotted hard racing on multiple occasions and was witnessed having post-race conversations with Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, and more. The general notion emerged that Hocevar should check up on his aggression.

Denny Hamlin had a different stance. He said that the #77 driver had a shot at his first Cup Series win, and thus, made the move that he believed would materialize it. Hocevar pinned his NextGen ride causing Chastain to fall back on the final restart and did the same on the final lap, budging between Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell.

“I’m going to be Carson, I’m going to say, ‘This is my very first win. This is one of my best shots I’ve ever had to win the race, and that was the move I thought would do it for me,'” Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental.

“‘I’ll go back and look at it and see if I made a mistake, and if I did I’m going to learn from it and I’ll do better next time. But in that moment, I thought that was my best move,” the JGR driver added.

Denny Hamlin will be next seen racing at the Circuit of The Americas, ranked 13th.