Denny Hamlin is still basking in the glory of his Daytona 500 victory and looking to keep things rolling at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver scored his second career win in “The Great American Race” last Sunday and has been on a whirlwind trip around the country since. Hamlin has enjoyed every minute of the celebration.
“It was good,” Hamlin said of his week. “It was definitely busy right up until practice to be honest with you. It seemed like this time was a lot fuller week than the previous one. That or I was just sober for it, one of the two.”
Hamlin and the rest of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competitors will have to deal with the unknowns surrounding the new rules package that makes it debut in Sunday’s Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500. Featuring lower horsepower, smaller speeds and some aerodynamic modifications to the car’s body, Hamlin isn’t quite sure how things will play out during Sunday’s race.
“It seems like the All-Star package – again it’s a different race track with different grip levels – it stuck to the track a lot more than this one, but I think it had less power if I’m not mistaken,” Hamlin said after Friday’s first practice at Atlanta.
“Just with the extra straightaway speed and lack of grip here, it just felt like handling will be an issue and something that you’ve really got to work on where in Charlotte, we were just thinking about how can we get speed out of this car. I think this weekend in particular most teams will be focused on how can we get it handling right.”
A key component that will be compounded by the new rules package is tire wear, which is always an issue on the worn out Atlanta racing surface. Hamlin believes that will be amplified Sunday.
“You definitely will need to run the extra lap to optimize your speed,” Hamlin explained. “You just can’t get off pit road fast enough for the first lap. The times were really close though. If you can get a really good run, it certainly can be pretty close on that first lap and give you a safety net if you do mess up on the second lap.
“The fall-off – we fell off about a second in 20 laps. I would say that’s probably a little less than what we’ve had in the past.”
Although the reduced horsepower mandated by the tapered spacer now in use will bring down speeds, Hamlin does not believe that will be much of an impact or at all once drivers get acclimated with the package.
“Definitely not what it was in Charlotte where we were – it’s different because everyone is starting the season off with this,” Hamlin said of the difference between this year and the All-Star Race last May with its abrupt reduction of power. “We never really had horsepower – we didn’t have horsepower last week where Charlotte we were coming off running major horsepower and the next thing you know we’re running 450 or 500 – whatever we had at Charlotte – that’s when it felt major major difference. Everyone is starting a new year. I would say that no one will think it’s really a huge deal.”
