“We’ll contend for a win like we do most weeks”: Denny Hamlin ‘feeling good’ about the upcoming Nashville NASCAR race 

Denny Hamlin is feeling confident about Sunday's race at the "Music City" of Nashville, Tennessee. In a recent episode of Actions Detrimental, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver revealed his strategy as NASCAR prepares to host its 19th race of the season at Nashville Superspeedway.

Denny Hamlin drives the number 11 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. He is a 54-time race winner, with victories in prestigious events like the Coca-Cola 600, the Southern 500, and the Daytona 500. Besides that, Hamlin is a 7-time winner at Pocono Raceway.

Denny Hamlin's longtime ally and the co-host of Actions Detrimental, Jared Allen, asked the veteran racer how the latter felt about the 300-lap race on June 30. Hamlin replied,

"I feel very good about Nashville. We should be pretty good. My friends ask me that all the time. 'How are you going to do this week?' I don't know, we'll contend for a win like we do most weeks. There's nothing else to say."

However, Hamlin has had his share of problems on the racetrack lately. In his last three starts, the Chesterfield native has finished 24th or worse. He suffered a DNF at Sonoma after his engine blew up early in the race. Reflecting on the same, the American said,

"If you watch the race at Sonoma, you didn't see me because I was David Copperfield; I was here and then I disappeared. We're in a little bit of a slide here but it's not due to a ton of performance."

"Most of them are just kind of freak accidents. The first two were and then this one just sh*t the bed in the rain," he added, speaking of last week's rain-delayed race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Denny Hamlin's most recent win came at Dover Motor Speedway, which also tied him with Hall of Famer Lee Petty, who ranks 12th on the all-time wins list. Currently, the Toyota pilot stands third on the Cup Series standings with 580 points to his name.

Can Denny Hamlin end the Chevy dominance at Nashville Superspeedway?

Chevrolet has been winning for the last three years at the 1.33-mile, 'D' shaped oval racetrack. Hendrick Motorsports ace Kyle Larson won in 2021, followed by his teammate Chase Elliott the next year. Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain won last year at Nashville.

However, Denny Hamlin's stats at Nashville include several remarkable finishes both in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In the Cup Series, he has made three starts at Nashville with his best performance being a P3 finish last year after starting eighth.

Hamlin has led a total of 195 laps at Nashville Superspeedway in the last three years. Over the last two races there, Denny Hamlin flaunts an average finishing position of 4.5.

In the Xfinity Series, the speedster has two top-5s and three top-10s to his credit. However, four of his five starts at Nashville in the Xfinity Series came back when Joe Gibbs Racing was a Chevy team.

Only time will tell if Denny Hamlin will emerge victorious on Sunday. Watch him in action on NBC Sports and Peacock with live race updates on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR radio.