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Hamlin on JGR's struggles: "We’re going to get better"
Denny Hamlin knows Joe Gibbs Racing has some work to do to catch back up to its competition in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Jim Utter
Edited: Apr 29, 2017, 5:46 PM
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He also knows there will be no quick fixes.
“It’s not going to happen overnight, it’s not going to happen this week, it won’t happen in a month,” Hamlin said this weekend at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. “Some things are going to take a long time for us to get better at.
“But, I’m very confident that when push comes to shove, we’re in September starting the (Playoffs), we should be hopefully back where we were, if not better.”
Early season performance
If true, the four-team organization has its work cut out for it.
Hamlin’s teammate, Matt Kenseth, won the pole for Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 but hasn’t led a lap this season and is mired in 20th-place in the season standings.
Hamlin, who has three career wins at Richmond including last fall’s race, has yet to post a top-five finish this year, has led just 38 laps and is 15th in the standings.
Kyle Busch has come closest to appearing to be able to compete for wins this season, but has struggled to close the deal. He led the most laps at Phoenix and Martinsville, Va., but finished third and second, respectively.
Rookie Daniel Suarez, who was a last-minute replacement for Carl Edwards to start the season, has been solid but already had to work through a crew chief change.
Things will improve
“These are the trying times, you could say, that defines your character. It makes you work hard. We were on top for probably a year and a half, every week having four out of five of the fastest cars each week,” said Hamlin, whose best finish so far this season is sixth at Las Vegas.
“Sometimes we won, sometimes we didn’t. But we’re going to get better. We’re not on top right now, so we’ve got to work extra hard to get there.”
Being his home track, Hamlin has typically run well at Richmond, even if he didn’t capture the victory. He will start an uncharacteristic 16th in Sunday’s race.
Hamlin has only started outside the Top-15 four times in his previous 21 starts at the track.
“For me, the 12 years of my career, it's always taken me a long time to get over winter break. For whatever reason, it's taking 10 races or whatever into the season to kind of hit my stride,” Hamlin said.
“I'm not really sure what it is. I think this is the typical part of the season when we do get better. We start to get to the short tracks of Bristol and Richmond, and Talladega is coming up where we've been pretty good.
“Certainly I come here always with the expectations of winning. When I don’t, it's a pretty disappointing weekend.”
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