JOLIET, Ill. — Denny Hamlin believes NASCAR’s return to Chicagoland Speedway comes with plenty of unknowns, but the veteran Joe Gibbs Racing driver is confident the track’s characteristics could produce some of the best racing the Next Gen car has to offer.
Hamlin, who participated in a recent test session at the 1.5-mile oval, cautioned against putting too much stock in what drivers learned several weeks ago. While the test provided some baseline information, he expects race conditions to create an entirely different challenge when the NASCAR Cup Series takes the green flag Sunday.
“A test racetrack and a race weekend track are two vastly different things,” Hamlin said Friday. “Lots of unknowns, just what line are we going to run? What’s going to be the fastest?”…