Denny Hamlin seeks to turn around season at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. — if it’s not one thing, it seems as if it is something else for Denny Hamlin this season.

Other than his win at Richmond, Hamlin’s season has been one of miscues and misfortune.

Saturday continued the trend for the winningest active Cup driver at Darlington Raceway. Damage to his diffuser during his qualifying lap forced him team to change it. He’ll start at the rear of the field in Sunday’s race, joining former Cup champions Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick. 

“It’s been frustrating,” Hamlin said before Saturday’s qualifying issue. “I mean, honestly, it’s just been week after week of being the coyote (that) gets the anvil dropped on its head. I mean, I don’t even know how else to explain it.”

Here’s one way: Other than his win, Hamlin has not finished better than 13th in a race this season.

Here’s another way: Hamlin enters Sunday’s race (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1) 23rd in the points. He’s only scored 54 points more than Brad Keselowski and that includes Keselowski being docked 100 points for a penalty earlier this year.

He holds a playoff spot because of his Richmond win, but he says the focus the rest of the regular season is wins and stage victories because he’s so far back in points. 

“It’s actually simplified our strategy, we go for playoff points only,” Hamlin said of the bonus points awarded for race and stage wins. “So when you see the field start splitting because they want stage points or whatever, you know where the 11 stands from this point on. We’re trying to get five points at the end of the race and two for the playoffs during stages.”

Hamlin is in this spot because of the numerous issues the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team has faced this season. The woes include:

“I’ve had more mechanical failures