Denny Hamlin reveals how NASCAR In-Season Challenge will influence his racing strategy
On Monday's episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin stated that drivers will very much care about the NASCAR In-Season Challenge once it starts on June 28 in Atlanta. He highlighted that motivation, sharing how matchups will influence his strategy on road courses.
Advertisement
Related: Denny Hamlin guarantees Ricky Stenhouse gets revenge on Carson Hocevar
'If we go to a road course, suddenly, I'm telling you. I'm gonna tell Gayle, 'beat that guy'. I just want to beat that guy. Where we think, 'Oh well, maybe we'll stay out and get 3 stage points here.' Hell no. I want to do whatever I have to do to beat that guy. So, we're gonna care.'
Denny Hamlin stats (NASCAR.com): 443 points, 2 wins, 7 top 10s, 6 top 5s, 2 DNFs, 450 laps led, 12.357 average starting position, 14.357 average finishing position
Related: Insider reveals Denny Hamlin's future with Joe Gibbs Racing
As described by NASCAR.com, the field for the In-Season Challenge is comprised of 32 drivers in a single-elimination format over five races. While the field of 32 (top 32 points leaders) was set following the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville, the seedings will be determined by the next three races – Michigan International Speedway, Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez and Pocono Raceway – with drivers seeded by how they finish in those three races.
Advertisement
Ahead of the Cracker Barrel 400, the majority of Cup Series drivers didn't express a ton of enthusiasm for the in-season tournament. However, Hamlin expects that to change ahead of the first race on June 28, entirely because the winner of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge gets $1 million.
Related: Denny Hamlin credits Kyle Busch for huge development in his career
The tournament matchups will also add more excitement for fans during races. While the focus would normally center on the battle for first, the head-to-head matchups created by the tournament mean that two drivers battling in the middle of the field will be competing to advance to the next round.
In Hamlin's case, his approach would mean sacrificing stage points on a road course to ensure he snags a better finishing position than the driver he is seeded against in the NASCAR In-Season Challenge. Whoever advances, the $1 million winner will be determined on July 27 in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Advertisement
Also Read: Reporter explains when Corey Heim might become full-time driver in Cup Series
Related Headlines
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ty Gibbs Calls for NASCAR to Make Change That Fans Won't Like
Ty Gibbs Calls for NASCAR to Make Change That Fans Won't Like originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Ty Gibbs finished 14th last Saturday at Atlanta in a very entertaining race that was popular with the fans as it received the second-highest favorable rating of all 18 races in the first half of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season in Jeff Gluck's Good Race Poll, with 90.5% giving the race on the 1.5-mile superspeedway a thumbs up. Advertisement The drivers face a dramatically different challenge on Sunday as they make right and left turns while racing around the 2.20-mile circuit through the streets of Chicago. On Saturday, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver met with reporters and was asked his thoughts about the future of the race in the Windy City, which is in its third year and potentially won't be returning in 2026 — according to numerous reports — and will instead be replaced with an event running through the streets of San Diego. Ty Gibbs rides a scooter on the Chicago Street Course.'I wish they would stay here and then maybe add another one,' Gibbs said. 'Yeah, I would clip second Atlanta and add San Diego, a street course for sure. A 100% all in for that.' Advertisement Gibbs suggesting that NASCAR get rid of a superspeedway race and replace it with a street course isn't really surprising. The 22-year-old has had considerable success on road courses throughout his NASCAR career, including earning his first win in the Xfinity Series on the Daytona Road Course in 2021. In the Cup Series, the No. 54 pilot has led both previous races in Chicago, finishing ninth in that first year and third in 2024. He'll drive for a third time on Sunday along the shores of Lake Michigan with race coverage beginning at 2 p.m. ET on TNT. Related: Ty Gibbs Confirms Joe Gibbs Racing Still Has Concerning Problem That Could Loom Large This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 5, 2025, where it first appeared.
7 hours ago
Alex Bowman is looking for a 2nd straight Cup Series win in Chicago
CHICAGO -- Alex Bowman thinks he is moving in the right direction. With the NASCAR Cup Series back in Chicago on Sunday, it's good timing for the Hendrick Motorsports driver. Bowman raced to a sorely needed victory in downtown Chicago a year ago, stopping an 80-race drought and securing a spot in the playoffs. He is still looking for his first win this season, but he finished third last weekend at Atlanta. The 32-year-old Bowman is the only driver to win at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, a 45-mile drive from downtown, and the Chicago Street Course. He got his first Cup victory at Chicagoland in 2019. 'As far as confidence coming into this race, I feel like we're plenty capable,' he said Saturday. 'We're typically pretty good at road courses. A lot of confidence coming into these places.' Bowman struggled at the beginning of June, finishing 36th at Nashville and Michigan. But the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet turned it around in Mexico City, finishing fourth at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez — a 2.42-mile road course with 15 turns. Three of the last eight races before the playoffs are on road courses — Chicago, Sonoma next weekend and Watkins Glen on Aug. 10. Bowman said he likes Chicago because it's so different from the rest of the NASCAR schedule. 'We do a lot of the same thing for most of the year,' he said. 'So, you know, walking through the city to get to the racetrack ... makes it different and a little more enjoyable. The challenge of a street course in general is super fun. Very technical, very little room for error.' Bowman held off Tyler Reddick for last year's win on the 12-turn, 2.2-mile course — a tricky drive with manhole covers and transitions from concrete to asphalt and back. The race was shortened in each of the last two years because of rain, and there could be more showers on Sunday. Bowman also is competing in the second round of NASCAR's inaugural in-season tournament this weekend. He faces Bubba Wallace after the two tangled in Chicago last year. During the cool-down lap after his victory, Bowman was bumped into the wall by Wallace. Bowman spun out Wallace early in the race. 'I think he and I are totally good,' Bowman said. 'But yeah, I mean, he's been really fast here in the past. Like, you don't tend to think of him as a road course guy, but here last year, he was really fast. So definitely going to be a tough one.' The head-to-head matchup with Bowman certainly got Wallace's attention. 'I'm sure he knows that a door slam does not count us even,' Wallace said. 'So we'll see what happens.'
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Denny Hamlin Wants NASCAR to Stay in Downtown Chicago, Also Advocates for an Oval Street Course
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." With the future of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race still uncertain, Denny Hamlin is among the drivers advocating for it to stay, if Chicago will have them. Part of Hamlin's affinity for the track comes from being co-founder of 23XI Racing, which, while based in North Carolina like the majority of NASCAR Cup competitors, carries its heart in Chicago. Partially thanks to Co-Founder Michael Jordan's six championships with the Chicago Bulls, and thanks to the team's league of sponsors, centered around the city, including Jordan Brands, McDonald's, and Robinhood, among others. This isn't the only reason Hamlin wants the race to stay; the NASCAR veteran says that when he's in the city for the race weekend, non-race fans approach him, intrigued by NASCAR. "I can just tell you that non-racing fans at the hotel that I'm staying at are talking about the race," Hamlin told media, including Road & Track, ahead of practice and qualifying for the Grant Park 165. You're certainly exposing some new fans to this. I think it's very important. I think you try everything you can to get this thing back here in Chicago; it's an important place for us. Hamlin would like to see Chicagoland come back, just not to the detriment of the Chicago Street Race or a similar event. "Chicagoland is not a substitute for this race," Hamlin said. "I would like to see us at both." Instead of naming other cities where NASCAR could attempt a street course, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver threw a curveball, suggesting NASCAR's next grand experiment to be a street oval. "Where [NASCAR] goes next, I'm not really sure," Hamlin said. "Wild thought is, how about a street oval? All you need is just flat pavement to make a race track." When asked what a street oval would look like, Hamlin pointed out that if the Chicago Street Course were cut in half (and a few corners deleted), you would practically have a squared-off oval, similar to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, albeit a lot slower and a lot smaller. "Look at the layout of this track," Hamlin pointed to a nearby graphic. "If you just cut half of it off, you would almost have an Indy-type oval there. It wouldn't be an oval, but it would be four corners, right? I don't know if the race becomes that much more compelling, but it would certainly would become less spread out. I'm just saying, surely you can find streets somewhere where you can kinda connect four corners. I get there are so many different things, but it's just thought-provoking from my standpoint, you know, 'we haven't tried that, so what about that?" While Hamlin may be alone, working through the potential downsides of his street-oval pitch, NASCAR works to finalize the 2026 schedule. The 2025 NASCAR schedule was released on August 29th, 2024, meaning we're still nearly two months out from seeing what's in store for 2026. The Chicago Street Race was only secured through 2025, and with the weather taking a toll on-track attendance, it may be a challenging sell from the city's side for the race to return. Last week's race winner, Chase Elliott, understands the frustration and drain that the race puts on the city, but hopes that it enjoys its time as host if it is truly over, just as much as the drivers enjoyed racing it. "If I lived here and I wasn't a NASCAR fan, I could totally see the frustration of roads being blocked, traffic, and all that sort of thing," Elliott told media members at the track. "I get it. It's been fun for us, I hope there's been more positive than there's been negative for the people of Chicago. Whether this is the last year or not, I appreciate them having us, even the ones that didn't want us. I look forward to wherever it goes next. I hope that somewhere down the line, we can take it to a different city just to switch it up, just like the championship race rotating out. I think a city street course moving around would be really healthy and good. If this is the last year, I don't think there's any bridges burned." From NASCAR's side, some fans and drivers are clamoring for a return to Chicagoland, 52 miles south of Grant Park. Carson Hoecevar went as far as visiting the abandoned track and releasing a YouTube video of the trip last week. "For sure, I would like to race there," Hoecevar told members of the media, including R&T. "It would fit that old Atlanta grip level. It already had a lot less grip, and it's been six years or whatever." Returning to Chicagoland will require a lot of work, given that the track will be vacant, except for a SuperMotocross round in 2023. However, it would keep a race in the market if the Chicago Street Race is off the table. For Elliott, the Second City is his second choice, as the 2020 Cup Series Champion wants NASCAR to race at the Nashville Fairgrounds as his desired way to bring short-track oval racing to a city. NASCAR last raced at the Fairgrounds in 1984, and earlier this year, its board approved Bristol Motor Speedway's proposal to renovate and lease the track, bringing NASCAR back. There's still a long road ahead for the project. "The biggest reason I'm such a big advocate for Nashville is because, to me, oval track racing is our bread and butter," Elliott said during media availability. "We have that there. This is a great second choice to get to a city, but there's nothing that's going to top getting people a true short-track, 'what-is-nascar?' [experience]. Take an Uber from Broadway to the race track and go watch. To me, that is the biggest home run waiting to happen that we've had in a long time." You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car
