"Just go all out": Denny Hamlin points towards a shift in playoff strategy ahead of Kansas

Denny Hamlin recently commented on his approach for the second round of the playoffs. Hamlin's Round of 16 got off to a shaky start at Atlanta when a late-race wreck led to a 24th-place finish. After the race, the #11 driver revealed that his focus was to get maximum points.

In the next two races at Watkins Glen and Bristol, Hamlin finished in 23rd and 4th place, ensuring his spot in the Round of 12.

With the forthcoming round having its first race at Kansas, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was asked whether he would still take an analytical approach in terms of points for this round of the playoffs. In response, Hamlin said:

“You could still take the approach, but truthfully, we’re going to just try to win this weekend and then not have to worry about numbers. But certainly, we’re going to approach these three races and try to get all we can and live with the result no matter what it is. We can’t control the things we can’t control, but if we just do the best that we can, we feel pretty confident," Hamlin said. [00:40]

Following his response, Denny Hamlin was asked if he would take a different approach moving into the Round of 12 approach. In reply, the #11 driver claimed that his strategy in the opening round of the playoffs did work out in his favor.

Hamlin mentioned that his progression to Round of 12 was by a very tight margin and that the team would consider a different approach for Atlanta if they had to do it all over again.

"Certainly we just don’t have the buffer entering these rounds that we did before. You use the numbers to try to help you make the best decisions possible, but I think the best avenue for us going forward is to just go all out," Hamlin added (1:37).

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Denny Hamlin opens up on change of mindset from Round of 16 to Round of 12 of NASCAR Playoffs

During the press interaction ahead of Kansas on Saturday, Denny Hamlin was asked about his mindset change from the first round of the playoffs to the second.

Hamlin revealed the thought of exiting the playoffs in the first round didn't come to his mind as that is not a standard he sets for himself. Further, Hamlin mentioned that it was this same mentality with which he would approach the upcoming races.

Having said that, he acknowledged the different things regarding his current playoff situation, saying:

"We’re 14 points less than what we should have had given our regular season points position and the penalty. It puts it in play. It puts the unknowns a little bit more in play this time around," Hamlin described.

The JGR veteran added that there was "a little sigh of relief" from his standpoint after he made it out of the first round.

Heading into one of his best racetracks, Kansas, Denny Hamlin claimed he'd aim to capitalize and go from 'treading water a week ago' to make it into the Round of 8 in a convincing manner.