Denny Hamlin Makes Painful Admission After Martinsville Championship Setback

Denny Hamlin arrived at Martinsville Speedway needing something special to keep his NASCAR Cup Series championship hopes alive. Instead, he left knowing his best opportunity to close the gap had slipped away.

The six-time Martinsville winner entered Sunday's Xfinity 500 trailing Kyle Larson by 73 points in the standings. He needed a big afternoon at one of his strongest tracks, but a costly opening stage and subsequent contact left him fighting to recover rather than challenging for the victory.

Afterward, Hamlin wasn't interested in pretending the championship picture looked any better than it did.

"For us this weekend, everything to gain, nothing to lose," Hamlin said during his post-race interview. "We just didn't gain enough to make it realistic."

It was a difficult admission from a driver who had entered the weekend believing Martinsville offered a genuine opportunity to change the direction of his title pursuit.

Hamlin ultimately finished sixth at Martinsville, a disappointing result considering what he needed from Sunday's race.

Denny Hamlin Points to Costly First Stage at Martinsville

Hamlin traced his problems back to the opening stage, when his team's strategy left him buried in traffic.

"Really came down to Stage 1," Hamlin said. "Lost all of our track position there."

The setback proved difficult to overcome.

"The first stage was the killer for us that set us back," he explained. "At the end of the first stage, we had to restart last, we had to wave around."

Things only became more complicated once Hamlin found himself racing deeper in the field.

"Then when we got to the back, cautions, the 22 got the 20, then the 20 got into us, but that's racing, I guess," he said.

The contact left Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota with damage, adding another obstacle to an afternoon already heading in the wrong direction.

"We just lost our track position," Hamlin said. "And once we lost our track position, it's just hard to drive back to the front."

At Martinsville, where clean air and track position can be especially valuable, the consequences were substantial. Hamlin had the speed and experience to expect a competitive afternoon, but the race never developed the way his team needed.

Hamlin Still Has One More Goal Before the Season Ends

With only the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway remaining, Hamlin's attention is turning toward a different objective.

He still believes he can compete for victories, and he isn't hiding his disappointment that Martinsville wasn't one of them.

"I feel confident I'll be able to contend," Hamlin said. "I'd love to get another win before the end of the year. I thought it was gonna come today."

That last sentence said plenty about his expectations entering Sunday.

Martinsville was supposed to be the place where Hamlin could make one final push toward the championship . Instead, he'll head to Homestead looking to salvage something from a season that once offered considerably bigger possibilities.

"We'll have to get one more shot at it next week," Hamlin said. "One more win."