Denny Hamlin concerned about reliability of his cars, engines as Chase nears
Denny Hamlin is concerned about reliability heading into the Chase. // Sam Cranston, NASCAR Illustrated
HAMPTON, Ga. – When the season started, the big question surrounding Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin was durability.
Not the durability of the cars. His.
Hamlin tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee prior to the season. He initially decided not to have surgery because it might hamper his performance in the car, but wound up having surgery March 31 to keep his knee from getting worse.
But while Hamlin has recovered and put his knee problems behind him, his cars have not turned out to be so durable the last two weeks.
Hamlin blew an engine just 143 laps into the Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta on Sunday. It was his second consecutive race in which something on his car broke.
“The thing is that the motor is so destroyed right now that you’re never going to find out,” said Hamlin, who had sat on the pole and led 74 laps. “It’s just been tough on us the last three years. When it gets down to the Chase, it seems like we have a lot of issues and problems with keeping our cars together and today was just a small sign of that.”
Just a day earlier, when asked about his team’s weakness entering the Chase, Hamlin quickly said reliability.
“Reliability is the only thing we really need to work on,” he said Saturday prior to qualifying. “Our speed could be better and we took a right step this weekend. I feel like we gained some of that back.
“Reliability. It’s taken us out of the last three Chases, not being reliable. You have to have it to be the champion.”
Hamlin wasn’t the only JGR driver to have durability issues Sunday. Joey Logano had his engine go a flat early in the race as well.
“The good news is that we brought our best race car to the race track and said that this was going to be a Chase race and this was going to be a test for us,” Hamlin said. “It was an A-plus on the race track. The car handled great. I was just messing around out there and having a good time.
“It’s frustrating. I know if we had the reliability that we could win this championship and the odds would be pretty good to win the championship if I can just keep it together for 10 weeks.”
