“No one’s working on Talladega setups”: Denny Hamlin outlines how Phoenix prep for everyone begins weeks before the Championship race

After last Sunday’s Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Cup Series is gearing up for yet another action-packed weekend; this time at the historic Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. But Denny Hamlin, who earned his 60th Cup Series triumph last week, thinks that no driver inside the top 8 is preparing for Talladega.

Hamlin explained his stance on the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast. The Cup Series veteran feels that whatever happens at Talladega, especially from the driver’s standpoint, is going to be circumstantial. So, the drivers are more focused on Phoenix, following which the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series champion will be crowned.

“No one's running the sim and working on their Talladega setups,” Denny Hamlin said. “I think that everyone in the top 8 is working on Phoenix this week. Talladega is...you're running the same setup you ran for the last three years at that racetrack. From a driver (standpoint) it's all circumstantial...it's not like you're learning different lines and stuff. So, I think this week, people are probably working on Phoenix.”

Denny Hamlin is the only driver from the Joe Gibbs Racing camp, as well as the entire Cup Series roster, who is locked into the Championship 4 round. So be it Talladega or Martinsville, the Tampa, Florida, native can take things a bit easy, as it won’t matter if he comes last or even gets a DNF in these two races.

However, that’s probably not going to happen, as the speedster can always contend for more wins. He is not the winningest driver yet. Well, it’s Kyle Busch, his ex-teammate at JGR. Busch, who didn’t make the playoffs this year, is still vying for his maiden win of the 2025 season.

For Denny Hamlin, Las Vegas marked his sixth win of 2025. He sits at the top of the leaderboard with 4090 points, 14 top fives, and 17 top-10s. With 33 races completed, the driver has led a total of 813 laps, averaging a finish of 13.25.

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“It’s all a blur”-Denny Hamlin struggles to process his milestone Las Vegas victory

Pole sitter Denny Hamlin’s car was the fastest at Las Vegas last Sunday. However, he never expected to win. Fellow Cup Series drivers like Kyle Larson, William Byron, and even Hamlin’s JGR teammate, Chase Briscoe, led a lot more laps than Hamlin did himself.

Hamlin led laps, nine to be precise, when it mattered the most. And that’s what made all the difference. His margin of victory over Larson was a mere 1.533 seconds. After it was all done and dusted, the driver told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio,

“I can’t believe, I can’t process, I don’t know what happened. It’s all a blur. That was one of the very few moments in which I did not think. That entire last 10 laps, I did not think whatsoever, I just did. I said, ‘Alright, this is what I need to do to win this race. I’m gonna run this line, I’m gonna approach it differently, I’m gonna hold the cast down.’"

Rounding off the top five at Las Vegas were Larson, Christopher Bell, Briscoe, and Tyler Reddick. The top-10 was completed by Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece, and Brad Keselowski.

Next up for the drivers is the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Scheduled for this coming Sunday, October 19, the 188-lap event will be televised on USA (2 pm ET onwards) with live radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Channel 90.

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Edited by Tushhita Barua