Martinsville is NASCAR's next 750 package test

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For Denny Hamlin, winning another pole on Saturday at Martinsville Speedway, is just another sign that he still as it.

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It, of course, is the much-discussed pure speed that often fades away in the mid-40s but the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 driver now has two poles in addition to a win while sitting fourth in the championship standings.

“Really, with age, the hardest part is actually still having the fast time,” Hamlin said. “You know what I mean? It's one thing to be able to kind of manage races and understand – use your experience to your advantage, but usually the first thing that goes is your all-out speed, and we're still knocking off poles, which is really good.”

Hamlin is also now tied for 10th in poles with Ryan Newman two weeks removed from taking sole possession of 10th in the all-time Cup Series wins list at 61 as well.

“I was around when Newman was just unstoppable in qualifying, so damn, I didn't know he had that many,” Hamlin said. “That was a lot.”

While Hamlin has repeatedly stated different win goals, which was always 60 until clearing that last year, he also doesn’t set such a number on poles.

“Yeah, I don't know whether it will change much other than just, make me feel better,” Hamlin said. “I can't compromise my preparation for a race to really focus on, all right, well, I want to get five more poles, right? If I never get another one, it's possible. I never get another one, then that's fine, but I never really go into any weekend thinking about qualifying on the pole. It's kind of a sidebar for how did my Saturday go.”

Read Also: NASCAR Cup Martinsville starting lineup: Denny Hamlin wins pole, SVG impresses

New package 

Even though this package has previously been used at Bowman Gray, Phoenix and Darlington, the lower downforce and increased horsepower (750 horsepower) package was designed with Martinsville in mind more than anywhere else.

Goodyear has made tremendous gains in taking away grip from the NextGen car over the past several years but horsepower was also viewed as the next necessary lever to be pulled. Following practice and qualifying, drivers like Joey Logano concede there is a difference.

"Yeah, there's more," Logano said. "The shift points a little bit different. Then late in a run, how a car responds, there's definitely a little bit more power."

Hamlin doesn’t think it will be as visible to the naked eye but there’s definitely a difference behind the steering wheel.

“This place is really technical. It's going to make it harder to hit your marks with the additional horsepower and certainly the tire change that we had from last fall,” Hamlin said. “I mean, what are you looking for? What happens when the leader gets to the back of the pack? That's what you should pay attention to. Who gets stuck and then who keeps going forward and passing cars? That's going to be the X factor.”

Meanwhile, and maybe this is just a reflection of his car, but Chase Briscoe said he didn’t feel much of a difference from last year.

“So far, it hasn’t felt any drastically different,” said Briscoe, who says it only resulted in a minor gear change. “It wasn’t like Phoenix where we got out of the car in practice and felt a huge difference but here, we haven’t had that yet. Maybe tomorrow, at the end of the run, we might start to feel it.”

Ryan Preece thinks, based on the extra horsepower and last year, the end of these runs will be a handful.

“We’re just going to be hanging on, especially when you factor in the horsepower,” Preece said.

Read Also: Cup drivers say new package is directionally positive at Darlington How about a 750 horsepower package for NASCAR intermediates too?

Work to do

There was a caveat with Briscoe’s analysis because one of the expected threats to win, and teammate to the pole winner, just was not particularly fast on Saturday. He will start 27th after being 32nd in practice.

“Not been a great weekend for us so far,” Briscoe said. “I couldn’t get the feel I wanted and that’s been a common trend for us under braking. At (Stewart-Haas Racing) I felt like this was one of our bitter tracks and now at (Joe Gibbs Racing) it is one of our bigger struggles with the feel of the car under braking.

“It’s been frustrating so far. Even in qualifying, I just wasn’t really great, the first lap is a throwaway and then the second lap went into third gear and kicked itself back into four and screwed the whole lap up. Definitely have our work cut out for us and can hopefully get back to the front.”

And then there's Kyle Busch, who just seemed incredulous after a 34th place qualifying effort and a 22nd place practice run. 

"I wouldn't even be in here if this was a couple of years ago," Busch told the media during full field media availabilities. "Here I am. Just continuing to put your head down with your team and find answers."

He did not have anything bad to say about new crew chief Jim Pohlman either as every Richard Childress Racing car is starting 30th or worse. 

"Jim is great, very passionate and feels the way I do about being competitive," Busch said. "Very motivated."

 

 

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