To say that the Charlotte Roval hasn’t been kind to Denny Hamlin is a bit of an understatement.
The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota finished fifth on the infield/oval hybrid road course in 2021, but otherwise his best result in six starts was 12th in 2018.
That’s why Hamlin hopes he’s in a strong position to advance to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs before the series races at the Roval on Oct. 13. That requires strong showings Sunday at Kansas and Oct. 6 at Talladega.
The Roval has undergone configuration changes designed to create more passing zones, and that’s a further complication.
“Certainly, the Roval will be a challenge, but it’s going to be a challenge for everyone to learn the new track,” Hamlin said. “Yeah, we want to get as much business as we can done over the next two weeks. No doubt about it. You always want to have a bigger buffer going into that final race (of the round), just simply because of the flip-flopping that can go on during stages there.
“Passing at the Roval has been extremely, extremely hard. We’ve seen guys that stay out for stage points do not make it back up to the front no matter how good their car is. So, I just think, generally speaking, you want to have some sort of buffer going into that track so you can play strategy multiple ways.”
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