Darlington expert Denny Hamlin explains why “it’s always good to question your confidence”

When Denny Hamlin crossed the start of the end line in Martinsville for his 55th career victory, This also placed it in equality for 11th on the list of victories of all time. He and the rest of the field of the Cup series now head to Darlington where Hamlin has more victories than any other active pilot (four) with his latest arrival in 2021.

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While fighting near the front of the field, Hamlin faced a 31 hour sequence without victory when he captured the checkered flag last Sunday. Even as a most winning driver of NASCAR without cup title, Hamlin said that maintaining confidence is never a fact … Nor.

“I think it is always good to question your confidence, because that forces you to look at yourself to understand that you have done everything you are able to do for the team,” said Hamlin in a media availability on Saturday.

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Logan Riely / Getty images

“Do you work constantly on your job? You must always guess yourself, I believe that if you are a Nascar driver, because things are changing and we are constantly going through aerodynamic changes, tire changes, car changes, track changes. Do you quickly adapt to that? Confidence is a great thing and it’s very beneficial, but there is moments to ask yourself better.”

What is needed to win in Darlington

Hamlin has not won consecutive races since the 2012 season and despite its impressive record in Darlington, it is prudent to believe that it has a kind of advantage on the field.

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“This sport is so week during the week, it is difficult to say that, but you cannot contest the results, I would say that, certainly, it lends itself to the best pilots, the best teams, to all these things,” said Hamlin. “I must have good mechanical grip here. A hot this weekend.

“It will be mental imposition knowing that you will have to hit your marks simply on this track and then, just knowing the mental side of it, you have 35 other guys who do not want to allow you to win. Usually, it is really difficult to sail, and it is a track that you cannot escape it just no exhaust.

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Images Jared C. Tilton / Getty

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Hamlin ran 25 cutting races in Darlington, only a number exceeded by Kyle Busch. He noted how his approach to the race in Darlington “changed over time” because of the way in which the competition on the track has evolved since the start of his career.

“I think that as time has continued, you have seen that everyone is so good to run the wall now or run near it, generally, I think you can find good cars and good drivers out of the wall. It was because few people ran directly on it for a long time that if you could just run a few centimeters of a few centimeters, you would enter into a better asphalt period than others.

“Now, everyone works so close to the wall that now you only get the aero effect. But here on this track (Darlington), the speeds are not as high, so you do not get such an important advantage on the wall as you do somewhere like Homestead which has higher angle speeds. A little more, you can have enough speed disparity to make passes elsewhere.”

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