Hamlin looks to back up Martinsville win with one at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Denny Hamlin is continually questioning his confidence as he navigates his latest try for a NASCAR Cup Series title.

Hamlin’s win last week at Martinsville has him in the field of 16 when the playoffs come around in about five months. And he’s prepping to run the Goodyear 400 on Sunday at Darlington Raceway, a track where he leads all current drivers with four previous victories.

Still, Hamlin said self-scouting is essential.

“I think it’s always good to question your confidence,” Hamlin said Saturday.

If you don’t, Hamlin explained, you’re left wondering if you’ve truly done all you can to make your race team as successful as possible.

Hamlin, 44, has done just about everything possible in the sport except claim a championship. He’s won the Daytona 500 and Southern 500 three times each and owns a victory in the 2022 Coca-Cola 600, the circuit’s longest race and considered another of the sports’ crown jewels.

Still, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver with 55 career wins has not cashed in his numerous opportunities at a title. He was in NASCAR’s last four four times (2014, 2019, 2020, 2021) without a final, career-defining win.

There’s a long stretch to go before Hamlin fully focuses on ending that title drought. Last week’s breakthrough victory was a positive step.

“It was certainly a great week for the team,” he said.

And whenever they can follow success like that at a track where Hamlin has won before — the last time was the Southern 500 in 2021 — it adds to the team’s excitement to get back to work.

Points leader William Byron knows what it’s like to win at Darlington, which he did in this race two years ago. There are good feelings whenever you return somewhere you’ve had success before. “It’s a tough place to run, but knowing we’ve done well there helps,” he said.

Byron’s teammate, Kyle Larson, is second in points through seven races with a victory at Homestead-Miami two weeks ago. He, too, has felt the boost of confidence after a Darlington win, taking the Southern 500 in 2023, then finishing fourth in his last visit this past Labor Day weekend.

“It’s always been someplace I’ve felt good about,” Larson said.

Hamlin had a strong qualifying performance and will start third Sunday. Byron took the top spot with Ryan Preece right behind.

The rest of the top 10 starters are Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney and Michael McDowell.

Throwback weekend

There’s clearly a love-hate component heading into Darlington’s latest throwback weekend.

The celebration of NASCAR’s past has been part of the schedule here since 2015. Kyle Larson, who will run a throwback to Terry Labonte’s tiger-stripe car he ran to win at Darlington in 2003, likes seeing the different schemes many of the teams pull out for the weekend.

Fellow Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott thinks the throwback balloon has popped. “I thought it lost it about four, five years ago,” he said. If things continue, Elliott said, they’ll be “throwing back to me in 2018.”

“I think we’ve rode that horse to death,” he said.

Brad Keselowski, owner at RFK Racing, said gaining trademark permissions from multiple parties to run an old scheme can take months or years to navigate. RFK’s three cars are not running throwback schemes at Darlington.

“It’s calls with partners. It’s calls with trademarks. It’s calls,” he said. “You get to the point, ‘Hey, I just want to race.’”

Odds and ends

Kyle Larson is the betting favorite, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, to take the Goodyear 400 on at +450, followed by Ty Reddick (+650), Ryan Blaney (+700) and Denny Hamlin (+700).

Larson won the Southern 500 in 2023 and has had seven top-five finishes in his 14 starts.

Up next

The series goes to Bristol on April 13 before taking its traditional Easter break.