Jeff Gluck: Racing demons continue to haunt Denny Hamlin
Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin finished 14th in Saturday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway. // Sam Cranston, NASCAR Scene
COMMENTARY
RICHMOND, Va. – Someone call a witch doctor. Denny Hamlin is on the line.
Hamlin needs some magic. Or Voodoo. Or a lucky rabbit’s foot, at least.
Something. ANYTHING. The guy just can’t win. He’s starting to look like Charlie Brown after the football gets pulled away.
Every time Hamlin starts to dominate a race – like he did at Richmond on Saturday night – you might as well start planning on watching someone else drive to victory lane.
Certainly, it’s not going to be Hamlin. The guy is Mr. Unlucky, Mr. Bad Breaks.
Hamlin apparently stormed off without speaking to reporters after a fantastic evening at his home track turned sour. And really, who can blame him?
First it was a bad pit stop (thanks to a dropped lug nut) that let several cars get ahead of him. Once he was stuck back in traffic, his car stopped handling the way he needed it to. Despite leading a race-high 148 laps, Hamlin finished 14th.
Another chance to win in front of friends, family and adoring local fans was gone. Again.
On the other hand, Hamlin shouldn’t be surprised. He’s said many times before that he expects something will go wrong – and he’s usually right – whenever he gets out front.
Flat tires. Fuel pickup problems. Freaky, weird things. What’s the deal, Denny?
Somewhere along the line, Hamlin surely let a black cat cross his path or walked under one ladder too many. Whatever he did, Hamlin certainly isn’t the guy you’d ask to buy you a lotto ticket.
Some guys have all the luck. Hamlin has none. He only has four career Cup victories, but seems like he should have at least twice that many. More than that, even.
If Hamlin knew what it was costing him these races, he’d change it. He entered this season with a renewed enthusiasm and a commitment to be better than ever.
So far, he’s been the same old Denny. Which isn’t a bad thing in many ways.
Hamlin is consistent, steady. A top-10 kind of guy. Finishes races. Brings the car home.
All of that has been good enough to be fourth in points so far this season. Nothing to complain about there.
The problem is, he just wants to win. It’s been well over a year now – since the Martinsville race last spring – since Hamlin went to victory lane in the Cup series.
Meanwhile, it seems like many of his near-wins happen to be the same races where Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch takes the checkered flag and does smoky burnouts and bows while Hamlin is left to wonder “What if…?”
Hamlin has shown he can be classy in defeat. The problem is, he doesn’t want to get used to losing.
But the more it happens, the more he’ll expect it to happen. And pretty soon, such things can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. He may anticipate losing so much, he could be the one to make a crucial mistake.
Hamlin needs to win soon. If he does – and exorcise his demons of defeat – then someone should call and cancel the witch doctor.
Voodoo specialists, it seems, charge by the hour.
