Denny Hamlin fell below the cutline in the Monster Energy Cup Series Playoffs after his 28th-place finish in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Hamlin damaged his No. 11 Toyota on Lap 81 when he lost control of his car in Turn 4 up in the traction compound,which caused him to slide through the infield grass on the frontstrech. The car took a major hit when it crossed the pavement section and dug into the grass.
“Just got up in that stuff before it was really broke in,” Hamlin said. “Just lost control. That’s all there is to it.”
The Joe Gibbs Racing team was able to make repairs at the end of Stage 1 good enough to get Hamlin back on track where he went on to finish six laps down.
“Proud of the whole FedEx team for putting their best effort forward so we could be there at the end,” Hamlin said. “Did the best we could and we’ll go to Phoenix and try to win.”
Hamlin came into the race as the most recent winner at Texas and 24 points above the cutoff. He now heads into next Sunday’s race at ISM Raceway 20 points behind Joey Logano for the fourth and final spot.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that we can go there and win,” Hamlin said. “In these circumstances, I like the challenge. We’re going to go out there and give it our best shot and put our best foot forward and see if we can’t get a win next week.”
