Denny Hamlin's crew chief emphasizes points racing, previews "big wildcard" races during 2024 NASCAR Playoffs

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin has kicked off the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season with serious momentum behind him. The #11 Toyota Camry XSE driver has logged in three victories in the first 11 races of the year, more often than not dominating the field on his way to victory lane.

Hamlin's crew chief Chris Gabehart recently elaborated on how this momentum has affected the #11 team and driver. Going forward into the season, Gabehart spoke on how winning early in the season and having a bank of postseason playoff points in the bag can push the team and driver to perform even better.

He described how the phenomenon works during a recent interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio where he said:

"When you get a good start to the season, it starts to free up your ability to push even more because you already have a pretty good playoff point bucket, you got a lot of confidence. It allows you to take that second place at Texas and turn it into a thirty first if you need to. You don't want to but it allows you to.

He further added:

"One of the things I'd like to point out that's a lot different about this year's playoffs, I'm looking at the first three races of the first round. Atlanta, Watkins Glen, Bristol. Those are three pretty big wildcards that if you don't have enough playoff points backed up, mark my words you're going to see a big upset coming out of that round."

After last weekend's Wurth 400, Denny Hamlin currently finds himself P4 on the driver's standings table with 361 points to his name. It remains to be seen what difference he can make to that tally this Sunday at Kansas Speedway.

Denny Hamlin's odds of winning NASCAR Cup Series race in Kansas

The 2024 AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway will be seeing Denny Hamlin try and bag a fourth victory this season in only the 12th event of the schedule. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver and the #11 crew have been riding a wave of confidence and performance since the Virginia native's victory at Dover Motor Speedway last Sunday.

Going into the 400-mile-long event this Sunday, Hamlin's odds of visiting victory lane are 9-2, according to CBS Sports. Stationed just behind chart topper Kyle Larson with a 4-1 chance of winning, it remains to be seen how the upcoming race pans out.

Watch Denny Hamlin compete as NASCAR Cup Series goes live from Kansas this Sunday at 3:00 pm ET.