Denny Hamlin reacts to JGR clean sweep after Bristol, continues pushing back on championship narrative

Denny Hamlin is not ready to make a big NASCAR championship prediction for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), despite the team sweeping the first round of the playoffs. On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin reacted to JGR winning all three races in the Round of 16.

“It certainly is impressive,” Denny Hamlin said. Chase Briscoe won the Darlington race, Hamlin won the Gateway race, and Christopher Bell won at Bristol on Saturday night. With all three being playoff drivers, they advance to the Round of 8, which begins on Sunday at New Hampshire.

Based on how JGR looked in the first round, one would think that one of the drivers will win it all. However, Hamlin knows the playoffs don’t work that way.

“We reset every round,” Hamlin stated. “We reset every round. That was the first thing [Bob] Pockrass asked me after the race. ‘Surely, the championship runs through JGR.’ The championship runs through Phoenix. Doesn’t run through JGR. It runs through Phoenix. It’s one race, and anything can happen. Anything at all.

Denny Hamlin looks ahead to the next two rounds of NASCAR playoffs

“We’ve seen someone not talked about all year win a race, win the championship. That’s where it is. I understand it’s a great narrative, and I’m very, very happy for JGR that our cars are clearly capable. They’re very fast right now, but in one race, who knows? You’ve got to get there first, and these next two rounds got some bumpy race tracks in them.”

Hamlin has won a NASCAR Cup Series-leading five races this season. He looks poised to make a run at the championship, but as he mentioned, you have to qualify for Phoenix and race at a high level at the track to have a chance at winning the title.

If there’s one person pulling for Hamlin, it would be NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. Last week, Earnhardt discussed how he would love to see Hamlin finish first in the standings.

“One thing that’s been a constant is Denny Hamlin,” Earnhardt said on Dale Jr. Download. “He’s like the R.E.M. of NASCAR—just making music. I think it’s so impressive, and he deserves to win a championship. He deserves to know what that feels like. With all the wins, all the trophies in the house, all the memories of his career—he deserves to have that championship trophy. Would he be a unicorn if he ended it all without that title? By far. I think he’d be one of the—there’s no real comparison. Maybe Mark Martin.”