Denny Hamlin is battling for the NASCAR Cup Series championship and recovered after a difficult couple of rounds by finishing in fourth place at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The American driver sits sixth in the championship and suffered a lot of inconsistencies this season, failing to finish inside the top 20 for three rounds from Sonoma to New Hampshire, before the NASCAR playoffs.
Hamlin has been driving quite defensively this season as he built his championship-challenging campaign, taking points finishes rather than battling for victories in NASCAR.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is just 32 points behind the championship leader Kyle Larson. Kevin Harvick warned him that he needs to go for victories if he wants to clinch the title when speaking on the NASCAR on FOX YouTube channel.
Kevin Harvick believes Denny Hamlin needs to be ‘pushing the pace of the race’ to clinch the NASCAR title
Hamlin has been blisteringly fast at some events this season and has taken three victories on his way to the Round of 12.
The driver of the No. 11 car has yet to win a race since April at Dover Motor Speedway at the Wurth 400 but is still battling for the NASCAR Cup Series title.
Last time out at Bristol Motor Speedway, Hamlin collected valuable points with a fourth-place finish. But he lost ground to the No. 5 car, and Hamlin conceded that Larson was superb at Bristol as he won the race.
READ MORE: NASCAR praised for ‘lovely’ thing it did for Kyle Larson after his win at Bristol
Now, Harvick has explained that he would prefer to see Hamlin at the front of the field battling Larson for race wins rather than taking points to stand a chance of winning the NASCAR Cup Series title this year.
He said: “I want to see Denny Hamlin and Chris Gabehart, those guys are offence players. I want to see them on offence.
“I want to see them battling for the lead, pushing the pace of the race, controlling the race, doing what they have to do, especially when we get to Talladega.
“I don’t want to see Denny Hamlin counting points. I still feel like they did what they had to do this weekend, but I’d still rather see him up there battling with Kyle Larson and taking the chances to win the races instead of counting points. I don’t believe that that’s the way you’re going to win the championship with Denny Hamlin.”
The NASCAR title battle is very closely fought with seven rounds remaining
Larson took a dominant victory last time out at Bristol Motor Speedway to extend his championship advantage over his nearest rival, Christopher Bell.
He is in control of the title battle as he looks for his second championship success in the NASCAR Cup Series.
The next round of the series at Kansas Motor Speedway could be a good opportunity for Hamlin to gain ground in the title fight, returning to a track he won at last season.