NASCAR

Denny Hamlin Will Feed Off of 2014 Momentum

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Denny Hamlin Homestead Logano

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There were quite a few remarkable rebound seasons in NASCAR in 2014. Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Keselowski each had incredible years after minimal results in 2013. And while those drivers’ seasons could be measured in wins (the three combined for 14), perhaps consistency, especially down the stretch, made Denny Hamlin‘s comeback season even more impressive.

However, it’s also a case of what Hamlin was coming back from. It’s hard to forget his feud with Joey Logano in 2013, which culminated in a crash at California and Hamlin missing the following four races with a back injury.

Before 2013, Hamlin was a perennial title contender and had reeled off five straight top 10 points finishes, including just missing a championship with a second-place finish in 2010. Hamlin racked up 22 wins over his first seven seasons, gaining his 23rd at Homestead in the final race of 2013.

That seemed to point the ship in the right direction after struggling through the rest of 2013 and eventually settling with a 23rd-place finish, the worst of his full-time racing career. But from the outset of 2014, it was apparent that Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates were lacking a bit of speed in comparison to Penske and Hendrick cars in particular.

But after qualifying for the Chase for the Sprint Cup on the strength of a restrictor-plate win at Talladega, Hamlin finished with six top 10s in his final seven races. That was good enough to qualify for the championship race and finish third after pit strategy didn’t fall his way at Homestead.

While a title would have of course been an amazing accomplishment, Hamlin’s run to the end despite not having the fastest of race cars proved once and for all that his struggles of 2013 are over. It’s hard to imagine a team like Gibbs won’t fix these speed issues soon as every team goes through peaks and valleys over the years. For a five-year stretch, Hamlin was about as good as anyone on the circuit, and there’s no reason to think he won’t return to that status this year.

Ryan Pritt is a NASCAR writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @RPritt, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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