Denny Hamlin in need of clutch moment at Martinsville: ‘We’re the standard’

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Denny Hamlin knows time is running out to win a NASCAR Cup Series championship. With an expiring contract at the end of the 2027 season, this is one of only two remaining opportunities for Hamlin to claim the Bill France Cup. That means he will likely need a clutch performance in Sunday's Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Hamlin enters the 500-lap race second in the standings of The Chase presented by Mobil 1, 74 points behind series leader Kyle Larson for the championship lead. MORE: Martinsville schedule | At-track photos: Martinsville Hamlin has had mixed results when it matters most. Hamlin earned a crucial victory in a must-win scenario at Phoenix Raceway in 2019 that propelled him into the championship fight at Homestead-Miami Speedway a week later. More recently, Hamlin dominated the championship race at Phoenix last November before pit strategy upended hopes of hoisting his potential first championship trophy. But there are also 20 years of championship battles sitting on Hamlin's resume that Hamlin never clinched. This year, Hamlin entered The Chase as the No. 1 seed with a 25-point advantage over No. 2 seed Ryan Blaney and 55 points ahead of No. 7 seed Kyle Larson. With two races remaining in The Chase, Hamlin sits second, nearly a full race of points behind Larson. The complexity of clutch moments has perplexed Hamlin -- sometimes, they've resulted in greatness; sometimes, they've resulted in failure. "I think that we've performed great in certain aspects, and I think that there's been other times where we've kind of stubbed our toe when it was a big moment," Hamlin said Saturday in a press conference. "Certainly, 2010 was one that really sticks out to me where patience could have been a little bit more executed there. And there's always been races here and there. The difficult part is you don't know when those key moments are until afterwards, right? And because of the sport and the formats and things like that, you just never know when those key moments are. And if we come up 18 points short, it's going to be like, 'God... Phoenix.' You know? But what can I do about a flat tire? "So there's always moments that are clutch moments, but you just don't know until the exact moment of when that is. And I thought that last year at Phoenix, we did what we had to do. And it didn't work out in the end, but that was what the format asked us to do, and we did it. It was just an unfortunate caution at the end that changed things, and that's our sport. This is not a 1-v-1 situation. This is a 1-versus-36, and driver No. 18 that has nothing to do with anything in the championship can play a factor in what your result is, and so that's what makes it a little different and hard to define exactly what a clutch moment is." In contrast, his business partner and longtime friend Michael Jordan was one of the most clutch athletes of all time, leading him to six National Basketball Association championships with the Chicago Bulls. What they share is an uncanny competitive nature that drives them toward their goals. But Hamlin does not worry about disappointing Jordan, his fellow 23XI Racing co-owner, if Hamlin falls short in his championship pursuits. "No, I don't think so because I think he knows me well enough off the race track, and he knows my competitive spirit (and) knows that I never go through a period of not putting in the work or not having the drive," Hamlin said. "I think that no matter what the on-track results may be week in, week out, he knows that we're the standard when it comes to preparation and work, and that's what he was really big on." This story will be updated.