After a pretty decent season in which many had him on their final 4 predictions list, Denny Hamlin failed to make the transfer in Martinsville. Hamlin, who has been a final 4 frequent in the last few seasons, failed to cross the final hurdle this time around just as he did last year.
But while last year it was a sensational move from Ross Chastain that sealed his fate, this time around, his fate was in his own hands. And despite a good race overall, the result simply wasn’t enough.
Having said that, Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gabehart was of the belief that their chances of entering Phoenix weren’t extinguished in Martinsville, but last week in Miami’s sea breeze. The crew chief also clarified the role of bad luck in the race at Homestead that more or less left them in the place they on Sunday.
Denny Hamlin’s crew chief rules out the role of bad luck in the Homestead disaster
Denny Hamlin ran a solid race in Miami last Sunday until something in his racecar broke and he hit the wall which ended his race. And while many thought what happened in Homestead was bad luck, Gabehart dismissed that explanation.
“It’s not luck. You make your own luck,” the crew chief said post Martinsville. “The things that happened last week, you guys are never going to know the details about them but I do. Ultimately, there’s not luck in that.”
“Luck is for weak people the way I truly view it.”
Gabhart explained that this is the view he views things, that are things in his control and things out of his control. “I can’t control this X-factor black cat c**p. I can control being good enough to be upfront and lead all the laps of every race and win every race and I can control not having a power steering failure last week and when I say ‘I’, I mean the team.”
Crew chief of Denny Hamlin claims they ‘lost’ their Phoenix seat in Miami
Gabehart also claimed in his interview that they should’ve been through to Phoenix if not for what happened last week. “If it’s not for fumbling last week and making a team mistake that takes us out. That’s where we lost, that’s where we didn’t get to Phoenix,” he said.
“It forces everybody to dig deep and find a little more and come to Martinsville. Would we have turned in this performance if our back wasn’t against the wall? That’s the human element, you’ll never know.”
The crew chief emphasized again that their failure in Miami put them in a “virtual must-win” situation this week, one in which they came up just barely short, extending his driver Denny Hamlin’s wait for a NASCAR Cup title a little bit more.
The post “Luck Is for Weak People”: Denny Hamlin Insider Rules Out “Black Cat C**p” Factor in NASCAR Disaster appeared first on The SportsRush.
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