Interview
NASCAR Cup Phoenix
Denny Hamlin sees progress coming at his "by far weakest oval"
Denny Hamlin, for one, was glad to be near the top of Friday’s NASCAR Cup practice speed chart and buoyed even more by seeing other Toyotas around him.
Jim Utter
Edited: Mar 9, 2024, 12:59 AM
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During much of last season, Toyotas struggled on shorter tracks, with Hamlin scoring the manufacturer’s only victory on an asphalt track a mile in length or less (fall Bristol).
The group, and Hamlin in particular, have had issues finding speed at Phoenix Raceway, which is especially important considering it’s the site of the annual series championship race.
That’s why Hamlin – and Toyota’s – performance Friday was so uplifting.
Hamlin ended up second-fastest in average speed with Tyler Reddick and John Hunter Nemechek joining him in the top five. Among those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps, three Toyota drivers led the way – Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell and Nemechek.
Making gains
Asked if he was pleased with his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team’s performance on Friday, Hamlin said, “Certainly. I think that we’re not our typical 3/10ths (of a second) off in practice here that we usually are.
“We made, you know, a big set of changes though for my car in the past. So, over the last couple of years, we’re just trying something different to try to get better at this track. Obviously, it’s been the No. 11 car’s by far weakest oval.
“So, trying to get better at it. And I think we’re staking a step in the right direction.”
Hamlin said seeing his fellow Toyota drivers also showing speed is more illustrative of progress than simply trying to evaluate set-up changes his team made to the car.
“To see other Toyotas up towards the front, it’s good. It’s not going to be in in how the car feels aerodynamically, because we’re not that good to be able to tell that,” he said.
“It’s just a matter whether it shows up on the speed chart. I don’t know about the other guys for sure, but I know that we have to do something different than what we’ve done in the past and certainly we’re trying that now.”
New rules package
Friday’s practice was also the first track time most teams have had with this year’s new aero rules for all road courses and most oval tracks measuring 1.058-mile or less in distance.
Cup cars are utilizing a simplified diffuser as well as the 2023 short track/road course splitter stuffers, removal of engine panel strakes, a 3-inch spoiler and simplified diffuser strakes.
While there were not many instances of cars running in a lot of traffic in the 50-minute practice – certainly nothing like race conditions – Hamlin said it was possible to tell a small difference with the new package.
“I would say that it was probably a little bit better in traffic, very small from what I could tell, nothing earth-shattering,” he said.
“If they’re equal cars, obviously it’s going to be tough to get around anyone, but I think it seems like package-wise, maybe just a slight bit of change better.”
Asked how drivers or fans could judge the effects from Sunday’s race, Hamlin said, “Well, I think I can safely say it’s not going to be worse than what we had. What we had was really, really bad for sure.
“This is a 10-percent fix. Like back in the old hay days where aerodynamics didn’t matter which is 0, and what we had was 100, you know this is like a 90. So, it’s going to be a very, very small change.
“But anything that can allow us to run closer to each other, to cross each other’s wake without the air-blocking that we’ve seen over the last few weeks, I think that will be a good thing.”
CLA DRIVER # MANUFACTURER LAPS TIME INTERVAL MPH 1 J. LoganoTEAM PENSKE 22 Ford 55
27.446
131.167 2 D. HamlinJOE GIBBS RACING 11 Toyota 54
+0.018
27.464
0.018 131.081 3 T. Reddick23XI RACING 45 Toyota 53
+0.021
27.467
0.003 131.066 4 J. NemechekLEGACY MOTOR CLUB 42 Toyota 48
+0.038
27.484
0.017 130.985 5 A. CindricTEAM PENSKE 2 Ford 48
+0.040
27.486
0.002 130.976 6 E. JonesLEGACY MOTOR CLUB 43 Toyota 42
+0.082
27.528
0.042 130.776 7 C. ElliottHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 9 Chevrolet 48
+0.088
27.534
0.006 130.747 8 C. BellJOE GIBBS RACING 20 Toyota 63
+0.176
27.622
0.088 130.331 9 B. Wallace23XI RACING 23 Toyota 64
+0.199
27.645
0.023 130.222 10
C. HocevarSPIRE MOTORSPORTS
77 Chevrolet 48
+0.204
27.650
0.005 130.199 11 A. BowmanHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 48 Chevrolet 49
+0.221
27.667
0.017 130.119 12 M. Truex JrJOE GIBBS RACING 19 Toyota 54
+0.222
27.668
0.001 130.114 13 R. Stenhouse JrJTG DAUGHERTY RACING 47 Chevrolet 54
+0.250
27.696
0.028 129.983 14 M. McDowellFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS 34 Ford 46
+0.258
27.704
0.008 129.945 15 D. SuarezTRACKHOUSE RACING 99 Chevrolet 58
+0.265
27.711
0.007 129.912 16 R. ChastainTRACKHOUSE RACING 1 Chevrolet 44
+0.269
27.715
0.004 129.894 17
T. GibbsJOE GIBBS RACING
54 Toyota 36
+0.272
27.718
0.003 129.880 18 C. LajoieSPIRE MOTORSPORTS 7 Chevrolet 47
+0.284
27.730
0.012 129.823 19 C. BuescherRFK RACING 17 Ford 42
+0.291
27.737
0.007 129.791 20 K. LarsonHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 5 Chevrolet 58
+0.326
27.772
0.035 129.627 21 R. BlaneyTEAM PENSKE 12 Ford 54
+0.327
27.773
0.001 129.622 22 B. KeselowskiRFK RACING 6 Ford 59
+0.345
27.791
0.018 129.538 23 H. BurtonWOOD BROTHERS RACING 21 Ford 60
+0.347
27.793
0.002 129.529 24 W. ByronHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 24 Chevrolet 42
+0.361
27.807
0.014 129.464 25 C. BriscoeSTEWART-HAAS RACING 14 Ford 59
+0.365
27.811
0.004 129.445 26 N. GragsonSTEWART-HAAS RACING 10 Ford 45
+0.414
27.860
0.049 129.218 27 D. HemricKAULIG RACING 31 Chevrolet 46
+0.420
27.866
0.006 129.190 28 R. PreeceSTEWART-HAAS RACING 41 Ford 55
+0.448
27.894
0.028 129.060 29 J. BerrySTEWART-HAAS RACING 4 Ford 43
+0.455
27.901
0.007 129.028 30 T. GillilandFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS 38 Ford 51
+0.477
27.923
0.022 128.926 31 K. BuschRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING 8 Chevrolet 39
+0.505
27.951
0.028 128.797 32 J. HaleyRICK WARE RACING 51 Ford 28
+0.529
27.975
0.024 128.686 33 K. GralaRICK WARE RACING 15 Ford 41
+0.569
28.015
0.040 128.503 34 A. DillonRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING 3 Chevrolet 41
+0.614
28.060
0.045 128.297 35
Z. SmithSPIRE MOTORSPORTS
71 Chevrolet 33
+0.616
28.062
0.002 128.287 36 D. KrausKAULIG RACING 16 Chevrolet 51
+0.691
28.137
0.075 127.945
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