It took Denny Hamlin seven races to finally bag his first top-10 finish of the 2022 season. But when he did it, he did it big by winning last weekend’s race at Richmond. Now, Hamlin heads to Martinsville not only with momentum but with the confidence of knowing that he’s about to go racing at a track where he’s a five-time winner in NASCAR’s premier series. Even so, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver isn’t prepared to declare himself the favorite to end up in Victory Lane on Saturday night at the .526-mile short track. Especially since this will be everyone’s first trip to Martinsville with the new Next Generation Cup Series car that debuted at the Daytona 500.
“It’s so week to week,” said Hamlin, who prior to winning at Richmond had finished no better than 13th all season. “I don’t know. We win this week, we could run 15th. I have no idea. Until we go back to a track for the second time, everything is so new that it’s impossible to predict.” Hamlin crew chief Chris Gabehart is likewise tempered in his expectations for Saturday.
“I could see Martinsville being one of the more different races for a guy like Denny that we’ve went to yet,” Gabehart said. “Denny is so honed in at Martinsville through so many different types of cars over his career. In a Cup car, we took 80 horsepower away from him, gave him a two-inch wider car. It is a 200-pound heavier car, it has a higher center of gravity and better brakes. He’s going to go to Martinsville in the first 10 laps and be as lost as last year’s Easter egg.”