Denny Hamlin dominated Dover Motor Speedway to secure his third consecutive victory at the track. However, the Joe Gibbs Racing star remains unsatisfied. A persistent flaw in his race restarts continues to haunt his championship ambitions.

At the Monster Mile, Denny Hamlin led 103 laps and overtook teammate Chase Briscoe with 29 laps remaining.

However, despite his dominant win that has the NASCAR world buzzing, the No. 11 driver still believes he needs to improve on his race restarts. During his appearance on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio, Hamlin spoke about the same. 

“ We are there, and we’re really fast. So, no weaknesses other than my restarts. I’ve got to work on that. That’s something I have got to get better at because these races definitely come down to the shootouts at times. Getting better in the short run, continuing to get better on the road courses.”  Hamlin admitted.

The race restarts have been plaguing the 23XI co-owners' races. Just this season, he lost out on two potential race wins, all due to poor restarts. 

The latest one was at Texas Motor Speedway, where he took the race lead from pole sitter Carson Hocevar just 20 laps into the race. But the race was thrown into overtime due to a late caution, and it was during this race restart that Chase Elliott took the victory of the race. 

Denny Hamlin's biggest heartbreak came during last year's championship bid, where he entered the championship-deciding race as a strong contender to win the championship. But it was all unravelled as the overtime restart came around. 

However, the No 11 driver does not just have negative observations about his performance this season so far. 

Denny Hamlin talks about one of the best runs in his career 

After Tyler Reddick, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, has been one of the most consistent drivers this season. He has bagged seven top tens and five top fives this season.

In the aforementioned interview, Hamlin reflected on the same. “If we go back to kind of like the last six or seven races of last year. Now, to the first 12 or so this year. It’s, like, competitively my best 20-race stretch in my history of racing.”

Currently, the No 11 driver sits in second place in the Cup Series championship with 438 points to his name. This is a stark difference from his 2025 season, where he accumulated just 346 points. 

Hamlin's focus on refining his restarts could be the deciding factor for his 2026 championship bid.

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Koushik Biswas