Denny Hamlin recovers for a top 10 at Kansas despite pit road blunders

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — “They know that today was one of their worst days ever.”

The results sheet would say Denny Hamlin had a good points day Sunday afternoon at Kansas Speedway to open the Round of 12 in the Cup Series Playoffs, but the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team’s effort was stymied by slow pit stops all race long.

Tallying 36 points with an eighth-place result and fourth-place run in Stage 1, Hamlin salvaged what otherwise could’ve been a poor result.

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“It was a great opportunity to lock ourselves in. Instead, we’re scraping and clawing to try to finish in the top 10,” Hamlin said.

During Stage 1, the first issue on pit road came as Hamlin ran inside the top five. The No. 11 Toyota left pit lane outside the top 10 and shortly after the restart, the 43-year-old veteran came on the radio to remind his team that he can’t lose track position.

Another pit stop toward the end of Stage 2 put Hamlin at the rear of the field due to his car having a loose wheel, thwarting vital points when the green-checkered flag waved on Lap 167.

Strike number three for the No. 11 crew came after a Kyle Busch spin from the lead with 30 laps to go.

In line to still hoist the Kansas playoff race trophy, Hamlin just needed one perfect stop to be in the mix on the ensuing restart. Instead, Hamlin parachuted from inside the top five to 16th on the following restart, cementing the day for him and taking the checkered flag on the lower end of the top 10.

“We lost 15 spots on pit road and had the fastest car,” Hamlin said. “We came in fourth and came out 15th or 20th or something like that and you can only pass so many.

“I can‘t do anything. I think they‘ve got to get some reps and get in a rhythm and peak when it really counts here in the next couple weeks.”

Taking the brunt of Hamlin’s disappointment on the team radio was crew chief Chris Gabehart. Being the eyes on top of the box, Gabehart had the best view to see how each stop played out for his team and why it went as wrong as it did Sunday.

“We had problems in one particular area of the car,” Gabehart told NASCAR.com “But that had nothing to do with any kind of new or unique choreography. It’s the same stuff we’ve been doing all year. Just players have off days. I mean, you can see it in any pro sport.”

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One mistake could’ve kept the No. 11 in race-winning contention to lock themselves into the Round of 8 without worrying about points at Talladega or the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course. Still, additional mishaps were the writing on the wall.

“We were strong enough to get buried once,” Gabehart said. “We were easily going to compete for a win even if we only got buried once. Just couldn’t keep getting buried.

“Most teams here would probably be fairly happy with the day we had. I mean, I think we may have moved up one spot and picked up a few points on the cutline but certainly at Kansas, the 11 expects more out of themselves than that, especially when we had kind of one glaring issue. The car was certainly capable of winning and so is Denny but it’s a team sport. It takes it all and we just didn’t have it all today.”

In total, Hamlin lost 60 positions from where he was when he pitted to where he restarted, according to Racing Insights.

But Gabehart backed his crew despite what happened and what could’ve been for Hamlin and the team, bringing it all back to the human element.

“These are humans doing extraordinary things,” Gabehart emphasized. “They aren’t robots doing easy things. This is … this is hard. Humans don’t always perform their best and today was an off day for those guys. There’s a lot on the line and my group’s, on average, been the best pit crew on pit road all year. I’d put them up against anybody.”