“You saw how much he really wanted it”: Denny Hamlin’s crew chief reveals JGR star’s extreme prep after ‘emotional’ Las Vegas win

Denny Hamlin's crew chief, Chris Gayle, has revealed the amount of preparation that went into driving the JGR driver's victory at the South Point 400. Hamlin had been a previous winner at the track before last Sunday's race, but his dodgy track record had led him to spend hours on end in the simulator to iron out any mistakes for the raceday.

Hamlin has won the most races this year. However, his victory at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway was achieved after sheer determination and grit from the 44-year-old.

The No. 11 driver had started on pole and led 57 laps en route to victory, but the story about the win goes beyond the usual metrics. His crew chief revealed in the post-race interview that Hamlin had started preparing for the race as early as last Monday and tried to get his setup dialed in for the race, which ultimately paid dividends at the checkered flag:

"It started out as a Monday sim session, which we typically don’t do week-of stuff on Mondays. But the comp meeting ended, Vegas was an early load. We needed to load and leave first thing Wednesday morning. So we wouldn’t get to our normal sim session on Wednesday before we ship the car. So we decided to just jump ahead. And we got in there, and one thing led to another. We started talking about that. We were running sim stuff. It was four and a half hours in, 7:30, we’re like, Oh, crap, we’ve got to stop." "I think that just shows the level of dedication he’s got to this, how bad he wants it, right... I couldn’t be more proud of him and his dedication to it. Just believing in himself. I think that’s the first thing. You could see he was pretty emotional in Victory Lane."

Hamlin's victory at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway has guaranteed him an entry into the final four, his fourth one in the past decade.

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"Maybe I can get lucky": Denny Hamlin on his championship chances

Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin driving the No. 11 Toyota at the 2025 South Point 400 held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Source: Imagn

Denny Hamlin's victory at the South Point 400 marked a special day in his career. It was his 60th career win in the Cup Series.

However, despite such race wins, Hamlin has not had a Cup Series title under his belt. This has seemingly been the Achilles heel of his racing career.

But the form that the 44-year-old has had this year has showcased that he can fight at the top level without any issues. So, with an entry into the championship four, Hamlin was asked about whether he could grab the elusive Cup Series title in the few weeks, to which he replied in the post-race interview:

"I'm just going to try as hard as I can. Maybe I can get lucky."

Denny Hamlin's 2025 season so far has seen him amass six race wins, 14 top-fives, and 17 top-10s, with more on the board possibly lying ahead.

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Edited by Geetansh Pasricha