Denny Hamlin: The ‘entire race’ at Kansas was great

Denny Hamlin enjoyed competing in the NASCAR Cup Series race in Kansas this past weekend. He talked about the race on his Actions Detrimental podcast and explained why the “entre race” was great.

“This I thought was an overall great race, the entire race was great,” Hamlin said. “It was a fantastic show. …This is another track now probably our best two races of the year, when it comes to Bristol and Kansas, is two tracks where we wore out the tires. There was guys that were pitting at the end of that race because they were wearing the tires out. Surely to God NASCAR, you’re not thinking of changing the tire when it comes to this because the show is absolutely amazing.”

Hamlin also compared the Kansas race the the one in Atlanta earlier this year. “Sometimes when people were talking were talking about Atlanta that oh this is the greatest race,” Hamlin said. “No, it had a very good finish. The finish was good.”

Denny Hamlin explains why he finished fifth in Kansas

At the AdventHealth 400, Hamlin finished fifth to earn his fourth top-five finish of the Cup Series Season. Kyle Larson won the race but it was extremely close as edged out Chris Buescher in the closest race in NASCAR history. Hamlin explained what went wrong for him on the last lap.

“I had my own issues getting off Turn 2 on that last lap because the 19 [Truex Jr] — I was about to clear him, and I come down the track — he dumps air on the left side, I start getting tight, I see Chase coming [and] I check up because I’m like, ‘Oh f***, I don’t wanna get just killed by the 9 [Elliott] here on the outside.’ So, I get passed by both of them and I’m watching what’s going on in the front because I’m thinking, ‘Well, how do I set myself up here?’ So, I slow down entering Turn 3 to try to get a big run off and the whole time I’m just watching those first two leaders and I’m like, ‘Are they gonna keep it off of each other? Really, like they’re not gonna make any contact through [Turns] 3 and 4?’

“It was epic, for sure.”

Hamlin is in a good spot to win his first Cup Series title. He’s currently in fourth place behind Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. and Larson and is one of two drivers to win three races this season with the other being William Byron.