Kyle Petty has voiced strong criticism of Denny Hamlin’s conservative racing strategy at the recent Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. During the race, Hamlin opted to stay toward the back of the pack, aiming to secure a modest 20 points in the first playoff race—a tactic that left Petty baffled.
“Who goes into the playoffs saying, ‘I want to get 20 points in the first race?’ I’ve never heard anything like that in all the history of when we’ve had playoffs, ‘I just want to get 20 race points, I’m gonna ride back here.’
“So, I’m more confused now than I was before I heard him speak,” Petty said to NBC, via 5Goats.
The criticism came in stark contrast to views expressed by journalists from The Athletic’s Teardown Podcast, hosted by Jordan Bianchi and Jeff Gluck.
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They defended Hamlin’s analytical strategy, admitting it matched the unpredictable nature of the reconfigured Atlanta track, known for its severe accidents.
“He played the numbers. You look statistically at this race… I’m talking Atlanta since reconfiguration, they have been carnage-filled races where you see a lot of big accidents, a lot of guys get taken out, happens continually.
“If you play the percentages and that team plays is very analytical and loves to play the numbers, you look at the numbers and say it overwhelmingly says this is going to be an attrition-filled race. Let’s be smart about this and not put ourselves in a spot and then we’ll pick our way forward. It makes sense.”
Jeff Gluck echoed Bianchi’s sentiments, articulating that starting at the back was a calculated risk.
“You know you’re gonna start in the back, you are probably not going to get stage points in Stage 1 and you probably have to do a considerable amount of work to get to get into stage points in Stage 2.
“You would have had to take some risks or come up through the field or play some sort of strategy,” Gluck explained. The idea was to avoid wrecks and gain positions as other drivers faced difficulties—a strategy that logically made sense given the high likelihood of crashes in Atlanta’s tumultuous races.
Despite the logical basis for Hamlin’s approach, the outcome was less than favorable. Hamlin finished P24 after getting caught in a wreck on the final lap, falling short of his goal to gain enough points to bolster his playoff standing.
Importantly, Hamlin’s strategy also stemmed from the need to mitigate the fallout from a previous engine penalty that had stripped him of crucial playoff points. Gluck elaborated:
“If you’re not going to get any stage points or many, let’s say you get eighth place in Stage 2 and get three stage points or something, what is the best way to get points? It’s to hope other people wreck and make sure that you don’t wreck.
“What Denny could not afford to do today was end up like a [Kyle] Larson or a [Chase] Briscoe type of situation where he’s only leaving with two points or three points because he didn’t have the playoff points a Larson has.
“He lost his playoff points because of the engine penalty. He lost his chance at the regular season championship because of the engine penalty.”
It’s clear that Hamlin’s strategy was not without merit, although it faced substantial scrutiny from traditionalists like Petty. Gluck offered a reflective note on the strategy, acknowledging its potential soundness.
“I just think logically that probably is the right way to do it and it looks a lot better if there had been a wreck and he’s hanging in the back and he lets people take themselves out. It just didn’t work out that way, but I don’t think it was that flawed of a strategy.”
