{"id":26995,"date":"2019-10-17T16:41:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T20:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bellyupsports.com\/?p=26995"},"modified":"2019-10-18T16:36:55","modified_gmt":"2019-10-18T20:36:55","slug":"what-a-difference-a-year-makes-for-denny-hamlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bellyupsports.com\/2019\/10\/what-a-difference-a-year-makes-for-denny-hamlin\/","title":{"rendered":"What a Difference a Year Makes for Denny Hamlin"},"content":{"rendered":"

At this point last year, Denny Hamlin was already out of the playoffs. He went into Kansas still searching for his first win of the year. A win he would not get, making it the first time in his career he did not win a race in a season. This year he heads to Kansas this weekend with a 56 point cushion above the cut line. With four wins this year, Hamlin is set to return to the round of 8 for the first time since 2017. <\/p>

Disappointing 2018<\/h2>
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Hamlin crashes in practice for the Inaugural race at the Charlotte Roval in 2018.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Denny Hamlin had one of his worst seasons in 2018. An exit from the playoffs in the round of 16 was the earliest he was eliminated in the playoff format. A season where he did not win a race was what stood out the most for Hamlin and everyone watching. He had gone every year, including his rookie season in 2006, with at least one win. His two best chances to win were at Indianapolis where he was passed by Brad Keselowski, who had fresher tires, with two to go.<\/a> The other race being the fall Martinsville race where he was up front for the whole race and finished second to Joey Logano.<\/p>

With Hamlin only accumulating 10 top 5s and 17 top 10s, talks were that Hamlin\u2019s time at Joe Gibbs Racing could be coming to an end. Rising star Christopher Bell was winning a lot in the Xfinity Series and people started to believe that Hamlin was in danger of losing his ride to Bell. <\/a><\/p>

Changes Made in the Off-season<\/h2>

During the off-season, Joe Gibbs Racing made the decision to send crew chief Mike Wheeler to the affiliate 95 team at Leavine Family Racing. In response, they replaced Wheeler with Xfinity Series crew chief Chris Gabehart. Gabehart was the crew chief for Brandon Jones in the Xfinity Series in 2018. <\/p>

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\ud83d\ude2f\ud83d\ude0d . Well done @FedEx<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/LTfwmmn0Cu<\/a><\/p>— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) January 28, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote>