Hamlin confident as Chase begins

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Denny Hamlin set his mind on a championship during the offseason, when he vowed to make the personal changes needed to make this a breakthrough season.

OK, so maybe he’s still a little bit moody. And when he’s struggling, he’s still prone to take it out on his race team.

But something has definitely clicked this season and Hamlin is now in position to take the next step in his career.

His confidence was soaring even before his long-awaited victory at hometrack Richmond International Raceway — a win that has Hamlin steamrolling his way into the Chase for the championship convinced he can win his first Sprint Cup title.

“We’re the ones to beat right now,” Hamlin said before leading 299 of 400 laps in Saturday night’s victory.

“We’re the only ones that can beat ourselves.”

Hamlin and the No. 11 team certainly did that over his first three seasons. He led laps, won races and made the Chase every season, but they just couldn’t mount a legitimate title run.

So he started the year focused on turning a corner.

“What I don’t like to hear is: ‘You’ve got a lot of potential,’ ” Hamlin said in January. “It’s my fourth year. It’s time to be a champion. Not a guy that contends.”

Now it’s time for Hamlin to prove it.

He heads into this weekend’s Chase opener at New Hampshire seeded fourth in the standings, 20 points behind leader Mark Martin.

More important, his mindset is clearly changed as he moves into what his Joe Gibbs Racing team believes is the most important part of the Chase for Hamlin.

Although he was competitive in his 2006 rookie season, when he finished third to winner Jimmie Johnson, he was out of it by Week 3 the past two seasons.

So the goal this year is to make it through New Hampshire, Dover and Kansas still near the top of the standings.

The next 10 races will show if Hamlin was right when he predicted a big season. And it’s going to take some commitment from JGR, as well.

Teammate Kyle Busch failed to make the Chase despite four “regular season” victories.

Busch has promised to help Hamlin any way he can, but there will certainly be a behind-the-scenes push to help Busch save face with a strong close to the season. But Hamlin is going to need some help to indeed be the guy that takes down three-time defending champion Johnson.

He thinks he can do it.

“We go into each season hoping to win a championship,” he said.

“We haven’t had championship-caliber finishes except for our rookie year. But I feel now our performance on the race track is better than it has ever been in my career. We are bringing good cars to the track and being competitive and competing for race wins every week.

“That’s something we didn’t have in our rookie year when we were racing for the championship. I think it kind of sets up nicely for us.”