CHICAGO – Admittedly, Denny Hamlin hasn’t had a grip on road courses in the Next Gen era. The statistics reflect that sentiment.
It took no more than a handful of corners into practice at the Chicago Street Course on Saturday for Hamlin to have another setback. The engine of the No. 11 Toyota exploded during his warm-up lap, automatically putting him to the rear of the field come the green flag for Sunday’s Grant Park 165.
Playing the strategy game, Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gayle elected to have a one-stop strategy, boosting Hamlin up the running order for the second half of the race. With the aid of multiple cautions, the No. 11 car pitted for the only time on Lap 31, along with race leader Michael McDowell, who had led every lap up to that point.
Multiple Toyota teams used similar strategies, with Chase Briscoe also opting for a one-stop race. More yellow flags later in the race caused Tyler Reddick and John Hunter Nemechek to hop off that strategy and go on offense.
Even on older tires, Hamlin was able to keep his track position. When the checkered flag dropped, he was scored in fourth position, tallying just his second top-10 finish in 19 road course starts during the Next Gen era.
“We had older tires, but I thought I could go,” Hamlin told Jayski.com. “If I had the same tires as the [Nos.] 54 and 88, I would have liked to have seen how I would stack up with them but we’ll never know. Top five is still a good day.”
Hamlin’s previous top 10 in the Next Gen was a runner-up finish at Watkins Glen International in 2023, placing behind a dominant William Byron. He hadn’t competed on a road course since early March at Circuit of The Americas, as he didn’t make the trip to Mexico City last month for the Cup Series’ inaugural visit to Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez due to the birth of his son.
“It was probably our first incident-free [road course] race in the Next Gen era,” Hamlin said after Chicago. “I thought it was good. Honestly, I feel like my pace was good when I was able to go. I could have some decent pace.
“It’s good to get a decent finish and not have to do anything crazy to do it. Just keep it up front with fast cars and that’s what we had.”
Hamlin improved his average finish to 19.9 on road courses in the Next Gen car. The series will compete on another road course next weekend at Sonoma Raceway where the 57-time series winner has seven top-10 finishes in 18 starts. All three of his Next Gen starts at Sonoma have netted outside the top 30.