By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Following a day of spread-out competition and adverse passing conditions at Pocono Raceway, plenty of drivers were shrugging their shoulders and stating the obvious.
Denny Hamlin, however, offered multiple solutions to the issues that arose during Sunday’s Pocono 400. After finishing sixth in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Hamlin noticed the heightened struggle to make up ground when lost.
“You can work on your car and make it as good as it possibily can in practice,” Hamlin said, “but ultimately, unless your crew chief comes up with a good strategy or youre able to stay up front all day like the No. 18 [Kyle Busch] did, it’s impossible. It’s not that it’s hard to pass, it’s impossible unless someone in front of you makes a mistake.”
With the 2019 aero package improving competition on most 1.5-mile tracks in 2019, Pocono’s 2.5-mile triangle shape saw a different side of the package.
“We got a mile straightaway here and we still can’t make up that deficet,” he said. “One of two things: You either have less downforce, much shorter spoiler for this type of track — or even bigger to where we don’t have to let off the gas. It’s one of two things that can improve the racing. That’s something that will probably come down the road.”
Along with the thought of downforce adjustments, Hamlin looked toward integrating an aerokit style from the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
“I would love to see a Generation 7 car that has like a pod from the rear window back that — almost like an IMSA car,” he said. “OK, this is a short track pod for the back, this is an intermediate pod, this is for a superspeedway. It makes it to where you can put on the best race possible for each given track.
“Every racetrack needs a different package. I see in the future NASCAR limiting how much you go to the wind tunnel. So, if you have 20 packages, why do they care which one you work on?”
Hamlin believes Michigan International Speedway next week will be a totally different show.
“Michigan next week, won’t be a problem,” he said. “We’re going to put on probably one of the best races you’ve seen there because we’re not grip-limited. We can run wide-open throttle. But here at these tracks where you have to let out of the gas, you lose way too much time in the corner to be able to make that up down the straightaway.”
More than anything, Hamlin wants to be a part of a good show.
“As drivers, that’s what we want to do,” he said. “Not only do we want to pass,
“Right now, we’re just hampered by the blade that’s on the back. So you got to go one of two ways with it: more downforce and slower speeds or speed us up and take the downforce off.”