Hamlin gives insight into his unique mindset with | Sports News

Denny Hamlin is using high on confidence after his victory at Martinsville Speedway seven days in the past, and he has given an insight into his mindset heading into Sunday’s Goodyear 400.

Hamlin has an wonderful report at Darlington Raceway with 4 Cup Series wins and 13 high fives to his identify, and he’s in a place to proceed in that vein on Sunday after qualifying in third place behind William Byron and Ryan Preece.

After some middling outcomes to start out the season, Joe Gibbs Racing star Hamlin despatched a resounding reminder of his class with a very good efficiency at Martinsville en path to victory.

He says his return to type has, partly, been attributable to asking some probing questions of himself. He informed reporters on Saturday: “I believe it is all the time good to query your confidence, as a result of it forces you to take a look at your self to determine did you do all the things that you simply’re succesful of doing for the staff.

“Are you constantly working on your craft? You should always second guess yourself I believe if you’re a NASCAR driver, because things evolve and we constantly go through aero changes, tire changes, car changes, track changes. Are you adapting quickly to that?

“Confidence is a great thing and it’s very beneficial, but there [are] times you need to question whether you should do things different or evolve your craft. I think it’s important to getting better.”

After winning the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville, Hamlin dubbed himself the “king of irrational confidence” as he ended a 31-race winless streak.

But he knows better than most that NASCAR is a fickle beast and a driver’s form can change in an instant. He believes all drivers are in for a “mentally-taxing” challenge on Sunday.

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“This sport is so week-to-week, it’s hard to say that but you can’t argue with the results I would say that, certainly, it lends itself to the best drivers, best teams, all those things,” the 44-year-old said.

“I believe it is a great mixture of you bought to have all the things. You must have good mechanical grip right here. You must have good aerodynamics and the motive force must be actually good with his craft. I talked about simply understanding when to push, when to not. Understanding the size of the race is.

“Even although that is a 400 (mile race), it is nonetheless grueling.  I believe Darlington is by far one of probably the most grueling race tracks that you simply go to easily as a result of it’ll be a heat one this weekend.

“It’s going to be mentally-taxing knowing that you’ve have to hit your marks just perfect at this track and then, just knowing the mental side of it, you have 35 other guys out there that’s don’t want to let you win. It’s really hard to navigate that, and it’s a track that you can’t get away from others.

“Usually other mile-and-a-half tracks, tracks of this size, it’s wide enough to where you want to go get clean air, you can probably go get it. Here, there’s just no escaping it. It’s just really hard to get runs, make passes on people. It just takes its toll, or it has for me, on my body, mind every time I race here.”