Denny Hamlin’s Bristol Night Race victory was exactly what the Joe Gibbs Racing wheelman expected over the weekend.
During his latest Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin elaborated on how he believes the race went down, adding some context behind his victory on Saturday.
“It’s kind of what we expected with Bristol,” started Hamlin. “I know that there was kind of a split, there was kind of a driver text overnight, should we re-spray, should we not. I thought that while the inside-lane was very, very dominant for the first probably, certainly a hundred laps, it wore off quite a bit, and I thought by the end of the race, the top and the bottom were the same.
“Now if you were good, if your balance was very good, you could you know, like I thought ours was — I ran the same times. It didn’t matter if it was the top or the bottom, my car ran the same exact time. That’s what really allowed me to get through the traffic as good as we did. Others, if your car didn’t handle as good, you would be pinned to the top or the bottom. Most people top, if your car wasn’t handling well on the bottom. So I thought that the decision to spray overnight was a good one, because you just don’t — I just don’t know that we wanted an end of the race, everybody running the top of the racetrack. I just didn’t know that that would’ve been great.”
While NASCAR was worried about Bristol becoming a one-lane race on Saturday, Hamlin believes by the end of the night, the track was running as smooth as ever.
“I thought that the end, certainly the last 200 laps, 250, the inside and outside lane were very equal on speed,” added Hamlin. “But really what you saw was guys that got out front could control the race. When they caught lapped traffic that were running the same lane as they were, they definitely were getting held up. If you couldn’t maneuver your car, people would start catching you really, really quick. … It was nervous moments, moving up the track and dealing with lapped cars, but I thought that it was a pretty race-y race.”
Alas, Denny Hamlin could also be blinded by victory, so of course he’s not clamoring for change at Bristol. Nevertheless, it was certainly a solid event, as it always is when NASCAR turns to Bristol.