{"id":250706,"date":"2025-10-30T19:24:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T19:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/250706\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T19:24:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T19:24:15","slug":"how-denny-hamlin-plans-to-win-his-first-nascar-cup-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/250706\/","title":{"rendered":"How Denny Hamlin Plans to Win His First NASCAR Cup Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time for the final race of the season. The NASCAR Cup Series is at Phoenix Raceway for the 2025 finale and Denny Hamlin<\/a> is in familiar territory.<\/p>\n

In the Championship 4, the #11 driver is chasing the one thing that\u2019s always eluded him. The veteran Joe Gibbs Racing driver has a Hall of Fame resume, but the Cup title is the missing piece. This time though, he thinks he has the formula to get it done.<\/p>\n

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The stage is set. Joe Gibbs Racing has Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe, while Hendrick Motorsports has Kyle Larson and William Byron. Between them, these two teams have defined modern NASCAR.<\/p>\n

Their rivalry is based on mutual excellence. A quiet competition based on setup choices and driving style that makes the difference.<\/p>\n

On his Actions Detrimental podcast<\/a>, Hamlin opened up about how he and his team are preparing for Phoenix. He also discussed how they are different than Hendrick. The one-mile oval is a place that rewards finesse and precision.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf the right answer is ten, we\u2019re trying to guess ten, but it could be 19. It could be 25,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to hit it on the number. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re trying to hedge a little on this side, a little on that side.\u201d<\/p>\n

That \u201cbullseye\u201d mentality comes from Hamlin\u2019s intense preparation. He spends about seven hours a week in the simulator, dialing in setups that play to his strength, smooth exits rather than aggressive corner entries.<\/p>\n

Inside Denny Hamlin\u2019s Take on JGR vs.\u00a0HMS\"NASCAR:<\/p>\n

Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Chase are very different in our styles,\u201d he said. \u201cHe attacks corner entry quite a bit. I\u2019m a person that tries to get off the corners as good as I possibly can. So that\u2019s going to require different things out of our cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a contrast to drivers like Kyle Larson<\/a>, who tend to be more aggressive on corner entry. But Denny Hamlin downplayed the idea of major differences between teams. \u201cI think it\u2019s probably 75% is common. And then there\u2019s 25% that we probably veer off into their own hemispheres. So all four of these cars are going to be pretty close.\u201d<\/p>\n

The title will be determined by the 25% \u2014 the gray area that teams can still adapt to within NASCAR\u2019s tight Next-Gen restrictions. Hendrick may have the edge with being \u2018adjustable,\u2019 but JGR\u2019s strengths lie in precision and teamwork, especially in traffic.<\/p>\n

Hamlin has always been one of the hardest workers in the garage, but he has took even more into preparation and mindset this year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m going to have to outwork people. I\u2019m going to have to look at things that maybe other people aren\u2019t looking at. I\u2019ve learned to win it more with my mind than I have with my talent.\u201d he said<\/a> earlier in the season.<\/p>\n

Chris Gayle, the former crew chief, confirmed this, citing late-night texts from Hamlin and hours-long conversations as indicators of just how far Hamlin\u2019s drive goes in trying to find an edge, particularly during the playoffs and the final race of the year.<\/p>\n

So as Hamlin has put it, while 75% of the car setups might be the same, the championship is won in the other 25%. That\u2019s what Hamlin will bet on in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

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Also Read:: Denny Hamlin Regrets Roval Move That Accidentally Saved Joey Logano<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time for the final race of the season. The NASCAR Cup Series is at Phoenix Raceway for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,10662,3932,4384,12101,4386,634,8354,43326,82],"class_list":["post-250706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-chase-briscoe","tag-denny-hamlin","tag-hendrick-motorsports","tag-joe-gibbs-racing","tag-kyle-larson","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-cup-series","tag-phoenix-raceway","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}