“I think the benefit was winning in Vegas because I was able to get so much work done before this week. That way this week is not crammed so much,” said Hamlin, who in previous title races has been a range of moods, including 2010 when he was basically stone-faced and silent.
“Been treating it really just like I would any other Phoenix week. There’s not much different other than there’s just more people truthfully,” he said.
He has an entourage of about 30 friends and family sharing three rental homes in the Phoenix area.
And after Hamlin turned a lap at 133.759 mph in his Toyota to earn the top starting spot — a luxury that gives him first choice of pit stall, a selection that could curb his propensity to earn speeding penalties — the pro-Hamlin crowd has to be loving his chances.
But, he also could be peaking too early in the weekend.
“No whammy!” he laughed and pounded the table when asked if things are going a little too well. He’s lost the championship at least six other times, so it’s not farfetched to think his luck may turn Sunday.
“You can only help the things that you can control,” he said. “Obviously we’ll just do the best we can for 312 laps. I hope it’s enough.”
Larson is the only driver in the championship field with a title, while two-time reigning Daytona 500 winner Byron is back in the final four for the third consecutive year. Briscoe is making his title race debut and Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner considered the best NASCAR driver to never win a championship, is back in the field for the first time since 2021.
Byron qualified second at 133.551, and Larson qualified third at 133.437 in their Chevrolets. Briscoe wound up 12th, lowest of the title contenders, at 132.680.
“I felt like truthfully it was a really bad lap I ran,” said Briscoe. “Was kind of surprised it was even 12th, to a certain extent.”
This is at least the sixth time in Hamlin’s career he’s had a chance at the championship and so far he’s come up empty. Hamlin spun in the 2010 finale, had a bad pit stop in 2014, overheated because the team put too much tape on the front grille in 2019, and then strategy or lack of speed cost him in 2020 and 2021.
He’s become the sympathetic favorite to win Sunday and even his competitors have acknowledged a Hamlin championship would be well received.
“Everybody likes a story like that where somebody nearing the end of their career, all that, I can see why people would cheer for him,” Larson said. “Obviously I want to win. But it would be really cool to see somebody who has put in so much time to this sport and been so close so many times. 60 wins. I’m going to want to kick his ass tomorrow, but it’s not going to kill me if he wins.”
Added Briscoe: “I think it would be a shame, right, if whenever he does decide to hang it up, he would be the best ever that’s never won, right? I think everyone knows that he is more than capable.
“I want Denny to win just so he can kind of have that on his resume,” he finished.
Hamlin goes into the race with a series-high six wins this season after an offseason crew chief change he opposed. Joe Gibbs Racing was going to lose crew chief Chris Gayle if it didn’t move him, so he was assigned to Hamlin as Chris Gabehart was moved into management. Hamlin did not want to lose Gabehart, the crew chief who has extracted the most out of Hamlin in these later years of his career, and was openly critical of the decision.
But Gayle adapted quickly, has advanced a car to the final four for the first time in his career, and now could be the crew chief to finally lead Hamlin to a title.
“There are four really good cars, really good teams, really good crew chiefs. I just want to win the race and be the champion,” Gayle said. “It’s not necessarily anything for me to come in and get it for Denny kind of thing. Would it be extra sweet with Denny just because I know what he’s gone through and been close? Yes. I don’t know that it changes anything.”
Hamlin’s 60th win tied him for 10th on the all-time win list. He’d been urgently chasing the mark because it was his personal consolation prize for not having a Cup title and he wanted to do it before his father, who is battling a serious health issue, dies.
Hamlin told The Associated Press this week that he badly wants to win Sunday because, “I know for a fact this is my last chance for my dad to see it. I don’t want him going and never getting to see the moment.”
