Denny Hamlin believes he’s in the right place to end his 50-race winless drought.
“I expect to win this weekend,” Hamlin said, looking ahead to the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway.
If Hamlin does end his skid, it could happen Monday. Wet track conditions forced NASCAR to postpone Sunday’s scheduled event.
Hamlin, 28, has reason for optimism. Two of his four career victories came at Pocono during his 2006 rookie season. In seven career starts at the 2.5-mile triangle, he has four top-fives and five top-10s.
Although he hasn’t been to victory lane since last March 30 at Martinsville Speedway, Hamlin has been the most consistent of the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers this season, sitting sixth in the Sprint Cup standings with six races left to set the field for the Chase.
At this point, he’s the only Gibbs driver in position to make the Chase. Despite three wins, Kyle Busch is 14th, 82 points behind Matt Kenseth for the final qualifying spot. USA Today
“We spent most of that race as a test session for this one,” Hamlin said. “We had our problems early and were 20 laps down when we got back out there. So we just worked on different stuff and fine-tuned for what I thought we needed when we came back.”
Hamlin is convinced he learned some things in June that will benefit him Sunday.
“We have a good shot at it because we had an extra test session in the first [Pocono] race this year,” Hamlin said.
The extra data will help, but Hamlin always believes he can win at Pocono. ESPN
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