Drivers have long been perplexed by Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which occasionally changes in ways that even seasoned drivers find incomprehensible. They have ‘two different personalities’—one during practice and another on race day, according to Kevin Harvick. Last weekend, when it mattered most, Denny Hamlin and others discovered that a familiar track had suddenly become unrecognizable, demonstrating once more how unpredictable reality can be.
This was more than just a hassle for Hamlin, who was renowned for his ability to understand a track’s characteristics; it was a mystery. By Sunday, a car that felt great on Saturday had lost its balance and grip.
He battled with a track that felt completely different from Saturday to Sunday, which disrupted his team’s preparations and left him looking for answers.
Hamlin expressed his aggravation at a problem he couldn’t manage on his Actions Detrimental podcast. He acknowledged it went deeper when asked if setup problems were the cause, “In short, it’s a misread, but it’s just me trying to get better and faster on Saturdays, and what is happening is I’m compromising my Sundays for that. I think that’s generally speaking of what’s been going on. They’re both dramatically different; it’s not even close to the same track. Vegas, it just might be like we went to a new racetrack. And it’s the same every single Sunday for however many races. But you go there Saturday, it’s wide open, and I don’t know—it’s just not the same. The time, the rubber, the Cup cars lay the rubber down through the race. We usually practice on Saturday mornings. It’s cooler, it’s not as sunny,” he said.
For Denny Hamlin, the difference between qualifying and race day was incredibly different. While there’s a difference between qualifying and race trim, Hamlin had a clear performance drop-off, evident from his highest speed. Qualifying saw him clock in at roughly 186 mph, while the race was much lower at 181 mph. Sure the drop-off existed for most drivers, but most clocked in around 183-184 mph. In the end, it meant Hamlin couldn’t keep himself in the race. Despite starting in 15th place, Hamlin moved backward on the grid, finishing in 25th place.
What might be more strange for fans is Hamlin pointing the finger at the difference in timings. The Pennzoil 400 was just one hour later than the qualifying timing (on separate days). Could the temperature change be great enough for it to cause Hamlin problems? Well, since the race ran over quite a while, it could have been possible. Las Vegas is indeed famous for its tire fall-off. Even then, Hamlin’s late pit stop from fourth place played a big part in his finish.
“Am I a pedal-to-the-metal type driver who’s gonna be lightning fast on Saturdays? No, I haven’t been in quite some time. Typically, I have made a few mistakes on practice days, qualifying days, and ended up in one of the backup cars. And now it’s like, ‘This is not fast.’ I always make sure I protect my car on Saturdays. What I would do is, I’d drive the car on Saturday like I know I’m gonna drive it on Sunday. The track has way more speed capabilities on Saturday. When you see the lap times that are like, ‘Woah, that is… guys are running nearly wide open.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m not gonna be doing that tomorrow, why would I do it on Saturday? It’s a mystery,” he added.
Looking at his qualifying performances so far this season, Hamlin’s pattern is clear. In a lot of the races he’s qualified well, but the race performances have not been as great. Despite starting in 8th place at the Daytona 500, the #11 driver finished in 24th. COTA saw something similar with an 11th finish start turning into a nightmare 21st place finish. For Hamlin, this could be the beginning of a serious problem. His win drought since NASCAR last visited Dover is indeed concerning.
The driver admitted it himself when he said, “It sucks we lost some speed at the end of the last year. Now we’re starting to come back to these racetracks where we’re going to start to gauge where we’re at as far as this season’s concerned. So it feels like an eternity.”
Dale Jr. compounded these concerns when he talked about Hamlin’s lack of a championship. “He had so many great years where we were thinking, ‘Man, this is the year,’…It’s an unfortunate thing, right, to be good enough and not get it. I think Denny [Hamlin], understanding his age, understanding where he is in his life, realizes it’s now or never.”
While Hamlin re-strategizes for the upcoming races, he does have an interesting point to make.
Denny Hamlin pokes fun at Kyle Busch
Now Hamlin is not the only one on a winless streak. Former JGR teammate Kyle Busch knows something about it as well. And while Busch is making efforts to break that, it doesn’t mean he’s focusing all his racing knowledge there. When NASCAR visited Las Vegas, the driver took a small break from racing before the Cup race and took up commentary for the Xfinity race.
Speaking about his performance, Hamlin had a simple message for Rowdy. “I want to give a shout-out to Kyle Busch. What a great job. He should quit racing. I thought he was good, man. He did really well. Really, really well. I know we’ve been giving CW flowers all year, their play-by-play and how they’re meshing, but I thought Kyle blended in there really well like he has been there for quite some time.”
It’s not just Buch being celebrated here. CW received some credit for bringing Rowdy on board, a big win since the Phoenix race. CW was on the receiving end of a lot of backlashes when it came to their broadcasting before Las Vegas, when one of their local broadcasters switched to commercial right when drivers were getting in the thick of the action.
Perhaps it’s changes and experiments like this one that can bring the crowd back on their side. Let us know what you think in the comments below!
The post “It’s a Mystery”: Denny Hamlin Left Scratching His Head as Bizarre Behavior of Las Vegas Track Gets Discovered appeared first on EssentiallySports.