In the final minutes of his latest podcast episode, Denny Hamlin received a statistic that made him hang his head.

Sunday, November 3, will mark 3,507 days since his last victory at Martinsville Speedway. For this highlight, we would have to return the calendar to March 29, 2015. This Sunday, he will carry the green flag there while his season is at stake.

“Do you realize how many races we’ve dominated, and it’s still the fall race? Hamlin said about the harmful actions. “We dominate the fall races. We led a billion laps and had a bad pit stop in 2021 leading the race, we came out eighth with few laps to go.

“We’ve always had something stopping us from winning there, and Chris and I just want to win at Martinsville. Like all the final four and all that, it’s great, but we just want to win there. It’s a really good track and a track that I’m really proud of, and man, I really want to win it.

If the pendulum ends up swinging in their direction, the elusive victory would put Hamlin in championship contention. Sunday will be the duo’s 12th race together at Martinsville Speedway since they teamed up in 2019.

“I chose not to look up how many laps we led at this track without actually taking a win together, but I think it’s probably close to some sort of record for a crew chief,” said Gabehart. “I would love to finally get there.” Winning at Martinsville is a huge event, in my mind, especially as a short tracker, and the fall race being the final playoff race on top of that. It’s a special one. It would be great to do that, that’s for sure.

In the last 11 races at Martinsville, Hamlin has led 912 laps, won one pole and finished in the top five six times. In the fall race alone, he led 534 laps.

A win is the easiest way to advance, but Gabehart acknowledged that points aren’t out of the question. Hamlin trails by 18 points, so the first two legs will set the tone for how the team attacks the final stint.

It’s almost ironic that it’s Martinsville again. A week ago, Hamlin was two laps away from victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but Ryan Blaney and then Tyler Reddick had other plans. It was one of the team’s most disappointing losses.

Aside from the finish, Homestead was another up-and-down moment for the band. There were plenty of those in the playoffs, which started with an engine problem in qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway and continued into the race with a poorly handling car and poor execution. There were problems in the pits, incidents on the track and results across the board.

“I was telling someone earlier, it’s pretty crazy,” Gabehart said. “I looked at a stat earlier and through the first eight races, I think we have the third-best average in all of the playoffs and we’re pretty high overall because of the schedule variance. But that’s definitely not the case, and where it really doesn’t happen is if you look at the step points. We have very little compared to the playoffs, which supports your point about having to scratch and claw your way through the race just to finish. Well, those stage points, if you’re outspoken all day, you get them.

“So it’s been a chore. But what got us here, in my mind, was the experience of the group – Denny’s experience, myself’s experience, Lambert’s experience, the trust in each other to know the situation and the know until the last checkered flag falls. , the day is not over and I think we were able to preserve a lot of things thanks to this. We had a break at Talladega that was crucial to our year, but we also haven’t had a lot of breaks at places like Talladega, so it happens. I don’t consider it luck. I watch this as finally our number came up. But it sure is a lot throughout these playoffs.

The team must be ready to change the narrative in their playoffs and in Martinsville. Gabehart pointed out that they weren’t ready at Kansas Speedway when they struggled on pit road despite being capable of winning. Circumstances then dictated that we not take more risks than necessary at Bristol Motor Speedway to get out of the first lap. Homestead just didn’t work for them.

“The key with this level of experience, and this group, is to understand that you have to be there to be able to capitalize on the situation every time the caution flag comes across your road, or every time you have a fast car , or whenever the car comes to pit road,” Gabehart said. “I think experience helps a lot.”