Denny Hamlin knows that momentum in NASCAR can shift quickly, and he wants to make the most of it. After taking the lead in the championship from Tyler Reddick, Hamlin has now set a clear goal before the playoffs begin.

With seven races to go in the regular season, the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver leads the NASCAR Cup Series drivers' championship with 44 points. However, as the playoffs get closer, he wants to add another win to his name in the regular season.

While recapping Sunday's Chicagoland race on his "Actions Detrimental" podcast, Hamlin said:  

"I'd like to win one more race before we get into the playoffs. I thought Chicagoland was going to be the best chance of that."

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was further questioned by co-host Travis Rockhold whether he wanted the win to feel comfortable in the standings or just add another one to his tally of four wins this season.

"No, I just want to win," Hamlin replied. "(Looks down at a paper on the table) That's seven races without winning. Add the two that we now have... three in a row that we haven't won. So that's 10 races. That's a dry spell," he joked.

However, the JGR driver emphasized that not winning in the last three races hasn't affected his on-track performance. 

"I feel good about where we're at, obviously. But you know, you just want to win, and that's always been my main goal, is just to win as many races as I possibly can."

Despite the somewhat comfortable lead in the championship, the No. 11 driver was unhappy with his performance at Chicagoland. 

Denny Hamlin looks back on one move that ruined his bid for a race win

During the Eero 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, Denny Hamlin kept himself in contention for a win throughout the race. He finished stage one and two in the top 10. However, there was one costly mistake in the final stage that cost him the race win.

While talking to the media post-race, he opened up about how he went a little higher to catch his teammate Chase Briscoe, but running over the marbles cost him. 

"It would have been close," he said (via Peter Stratta on X). "I just thought I needed to get a little more speed out of the car, and I didn’t know that there was nobody running the very, very top, and so when I went up there, it was just marbles, and so yeah, it cost us a chance there."

What he said on his podcast about winning was the same sentiment he spoke about at Chicagoland post-race.

"It's good, I’m looking at the points, but like I'm so in the moment these types of weeks where it’s like all I care about is, can I win this week, and I thought I didn’t do a great job for the team today."

Hamlin still finished on the podium behind teammates Briscoe and Christopher Bell. With the playoffs fast approaching, the three-time Daytona 500 winner has one goal in mind, and that is to turn his strong performances into wins and use that momentum to win an elusive first NASCAR Cup Series championship

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Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Yash Kotak