Denny Hamlin outlines strengths and superspeedway wreck concerns heading into playoffs

Denny Hamlin opened up about his strength with Joe Gibbs Racing's #11 car going into the playoffs. The JGR star, who already qualified for the playoffs, stated that his strengths are the "conventional ovals" and "anything that turns left," but he also has a wreck concern at the Talladega Superspeedway.

Coming into the 2025 Cup Series season, Hamlin claimed four wins, all of which have come on conventional oval tracks like Martinsville, Darlington, Michigan, and Dover. This shows that the #11 JGR star is incredibly strong when the car turns left.

As the NASCAR Cup Series moves into the playoffs at Darlington this weekend, a track where he claimed a victory this season already, Hamlin touched upon his strength ahead of the race. Speaking to the media, here's what the driver from Chesterfield, Virginia, said:

"Our strengths are just conventional ovals. Anything that turns left is going to be our strength. We’re in the unique position, there’s truthfully about four or five of us that are the fastest cars every single week and there’s others, right? It’s just, do you have enough of a head start through your playoff points and whatnot to keep moving on? Do you have enough to sustain a bad day that everyone has during the course of a season?"

Following this, Hamlin also shared a concern about the upcoming playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway, in the round of eight. Speaking about the track where getting wrecked is quite common, here's what the Joe Gibbs Racing star added,

"The challenge will be obviously Talladega. I don’t think I’ve avoided a superspeedway wreck in about 10 years now – or it feels that way. And then, what happens at the Roval, right? There’re so many different strategies and stuff that can happen. What points position are you in before you get to there? A lot of that will be dictated in the first couple races of that round.” (via NBC Sports)

The first NASCAR Cup Series playoffs race, the Cook Out Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway, will take place on August 31 at 6 PM ET. And the YellaWood 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway will take place on October 19 at 2 PM ET.

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Denny Hamlin heads into the Cook Out 500 on pole

Denny Hamlin will start Sunday's Cook Out 500 at the Darlington Raceway on pole. He denied his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, the Chase Briscoe and stopped him from claiming poles on all four crown jewel races this year.

Denny Hamlin stands next to his no. 11 Toyota Camry XSE - Source: Imagn

"It turned," Hamlin said, speaking about his race after the qualifying. "We struggled with the balance all through race practice, so we made some good adjustments there to go one lap. I felt like it was really good. This Toyota did everything I needed it to do. It's awesome to come here and get a pole." (Via Motorsport.com)

Denny Hamlin heads into the playoffs in third place with +23 points to his name. The Hendrick Motorsports duo, Kyle Larson and William Byron, are leading the playoffs with 26 points, respectively.