Denny Hamlin delivers a straightforward verdict on Richard Petty’s team's former driver’s Miami showdown

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin opened up about A.J. Allmendinger's phenomenal defensive driving at Homestead Miami that helped the Kaulig Racing driver bag a consecutive top-10 finish. Allmendinger, who is known for his road-course prowess, has also been one of the best finishers in Miami since the introduction of the Next Gen cars in 2022.

The #16 driver has a 5.3 average finish at Homestead (the same as Christopher Bell) in the last four years with third, fifth, and eighth place results in the previous three years. The former driver for NASCAR legend Richard Petty's team came home in seventh in last Sunday's Straight Talk Wireless 400. In a recent clip shared on X from his Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin highlighted the key behind Allmendinger's success in Miami.

The JGR driver explained how Allmendinger was ranked the number 1 driver on defense and was always able to hold up faster drivers from passing on every single restart. Hamlin noted:

"I had some good restarts, you know, especially when I was in mid-pack I was making up a lot of positions. Who was number one on restarts? A.J. Allmendinger, he was number one on defense and restarts. And defense is defined by when you have somebody within a certain proximity of the back of your car, do you keep them from passing you, yes or no?"

"What this could mean, AJ could have been holding up the line. A lot of times what happens if group of cars is right on your as* and nobody's able to pass you, you're gonna rank really high on defense. He was ranked 10th on speed; not bad, passing; 28th. So it sounds like he just did really good on restarts, number 1 and he held'em up. That was A.J.'s key to running well," Hamlin added.

The P7 finish was Allmendinger’s sixth top-10 finish at Homestead Miami in 13 race starts.

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Denny Hamlin sounds alarm for Joe Gibbs Racing's dip in performance

While Joe Gibbs Racing has won three out of the six races so far in the 2025 NCS season (three consecutive wins for Christopher Bell), Denny Hamlin recently shared his concerns about the team's dip in performance compared to previous seasons. He was the only JGR driver to lead laps in Miami and he remarked that the team has a lot of work to do to reclaim their dominance in the Cup Series.

"I still think we’ve got work to do. I contend that we still don’t have the speed that it takes to lead a ton of laps, which is showing in laps led. We’re not leading laps like we have in the past. All of JGR. So I think we’ve just got to get our cars a little bit faster to really contend week in, week out, right now,” Denny Hamlin said (via NASCAR).

Hamlin won Stage 2 in Miami and eventually finished the race in fifth place behind his new JGR teammate Chase Briscoe. The top-5 result pushed the 44-year-old four spots up in the drivers' standings and he now sits in eighth spot with 164 points against his name. Denny Hamlin will return to racing action on Sunday, March 30, in the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway.