Denny Hamlin was impressed with Iowa Speedway after driving on it for the first time in a NASCAR Cup Series race. On Hamlin’s Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin talked about how the race played out the way that he thought it would.
“I thought after the Xfinity race it was going to race good,” Hamlin said. “I was pretty confident in that because they really moved the groove up to everywhere that was new paved, you had a car running on it. It was three lanes wide if everyone held each other tight, but it was at least two and a half lanes wide with cars giving each other space.
“It was a great racetrack, and I think if they went ahead and finished the paving up at the top, it would be better yet because we would continue to push the grove up higher and higher.”
What Hamlin had to say about Iowa Speedway is similar to what he told Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass after the race. “I think there would be probably nothing but positives if you did repave the very top because it would have a little more grip yet and it would force us to want to go even higher,” Hamlin said. “Which would then allow cars to run the middle or the bottom to get away in clean air. So, I think finishing the paving job probably would net a better result next year.”
Denny Hamlin’s stock is down this week
Hamlin may have enjoyed the track but did not have a strong showing in the Cup Series race. The three-time Daytona 500 winner finished 24th, and it comes after he suffered an DNF last week at Sonoma due to issues with his engine. Cameron Richardson of NASCAR.com listed Hamlin as one of the three dirvers who are down this week.
“Hamlin’s day started miserably at Iowa. During the first stage, the No. 11 Toyota parachuted outside the top 30 and even fell a lap down naturally,” Richardson wrote. “Describing the first 70 laps as feeling ‘like the tires are on backwards,’ Hamlin did recover to find himself in the top 10 and even collected five points in Stage 2.
“But Hamlin would soon be collected in the Larson incident, having nowhere to go down the frontstretch as the No. 5 careened right in front of Hamlin. The No. 11 stayed out on track and finished two laps down in 24th.”
The post Denny Hamlin expected Iowa Speedway to produce a great race appeared first on On3.