“He had a lot of benefits” - Denny Hamlin looks into Joey Logano’s ridiculous fuel mileage at Nashville

In the latest episode of Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin opened up about his thoughts on how Joey Logano got an edge over the race leaders at Nashville Superspeedway. There were quite a few controversies regarding Joey Logano's win at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday.

It was Logano's first win of the season and 33rd of his Cup career; thanks to the number 22 team's strategy of not stopping to refuel over the final 110 laps. The Team Penske driver had just enough gas to perform a celebratory burnout after crossing the finish line first, holding off runner-up Zane Smith and P3 holder Tyler Reddick.

The race, which ran 31 laps more than it was supposed to run initially, went into a quintuple overtime; something that the racing aficionados had never witnessed before. Therefore, many opined that Joey Logano had somehow received an undue fuel advantage over the other drivers. Interestingly, he had led only nine laps, en route to the victory lane.

Speaking of which, Denny Hamlin said:

"Track position matters when you're running kind of as poorly as they were. He was not in the gas as much as the leaders. Your lift point into the corner is shallower so you gain that... You can't get back in the gas as quick because you're in traffic."

According to the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, running slower than the race leaders has its advantage. One does not use up as much gas as the cars that are running up front do.

"So more than likely, he was getting better fuel mileage than what all the leaders were that were in open track for the bulk of that run," he added.

The horsepower on the engine is a decisive factor as more horsepower uses up more fuel. Reflecting on the same, Denny Hamlin explained:

"Look at the cars that ran out first; that was the Chevys, then it was the Toyotas, then the Fords were the last run out. When you have more horsepower, you typically run out of gas quicker because you use more fuel. Those are some of the things and while it looks like a big number, and it was a big number that they made, he had a lot of benefits and this is one of the few benefits of running slow."

Joey Logano thus clinched a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs for the 11th time in 16 seasons. All three Team Penske Cup cars are in the 2024 playoff rumble. Joey Logano has won two-time Cup Series championships already, and this year, he has the opportunity to add a third one to his resume.

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Denny Hamlin sheds light on the not-so-similar NextGen cars

Besides reducing costs, the NextGen car is known to have brought parity to the field, as every part of the car is obtained from single-source vendors. This means the fuel cell bladder (supplied by Aero Tec Laboratories, Inc.) that Joe Gibbs Racing uses in their Toyotas is the same that Team Penske uses in their Fords.

Therefore, there should be no difference in the components of the car. Denny Hamlin, however, feels otherwise. According to him, the fuel cells are slightly different in every car on the field.

"I think that not every fuel cell's exactly the same," Denny Hamlin said. "So you're gonna have a little bit of variance there. It's like, every part you buy on the car... while they're "the same", they're not "the same". It's such a minuscule. It's a small amount."

Denny Hamlin continued:

"The difference between him finishing the race and not; he ran out of (gas) I guess when he was doing a celebration. That's not much fuel so if you get 0.2 gallons more out of your tank, you can go somewhere with it."

Meanwhile, NASCAR prepares to hit the street course of Chicago for the second time this year. The practice and qualifying sessions will take place between 11:30 pm and 1:30 pm CT on Saturday, July 6.

The main event will start at 3:30 pm CT the next day, i.e., July 7. The Grant Park 165, which is expected to run 75 laps, will air live on NBC Sports and Peacock, with radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.