Top-seeded Denny Hamlin renews title quest under new Chase format
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Last year, Denny Hamlin did everything right.
After winning from the pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway under the elimination Playoff format, Hamlin had nearly three weeks to prepare for the Championship 4 Race at Phoenix—and he used every minute of it.
He studied meticulously. Hamlin went so far as to try his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates’ setups in the simulator to broaden his approach to a track that historically was not his best.
The effort paid off. Starting from the pole, Hamlin dominated the race, winning the second stage and leading 208 laps. With four circuits left, he was cruising toward his long-awaited first NASCAR Cup Series championship when fate intervened in the form of William Byron’s blown tire.
The resulting caution sent the race to overtime, and after taking four tires, Hamlin was trapped in traffic during the two-lap shootout and finished sixth, losing the title to Kyle Larson, who came home third without leading a lap.
With the postseason format returning to a 10-race Chase this season, Hamlin enters as the top seed with four victories to his credit. He starts the Chase with a 25-point lead over second-seeded Ryan Blaney, but he won’t have the luxury of extensive preparation this year.
“I think it’s harder—I do,” Hamlin said of the 10-race Chase. “It’s simply because there’s not going to be any opportunity for me to take two weeks and study for one race track. It’s not physically possible. Now, there’s an opportunity for me to spend a little bit more time on these last 10, which I will do, but it will never reach the depths in which I worked for Phoenix last year.
“It’s just simply because there’s no weekends to take off. Maybe Talladega, because there’s not really much studying that goes into that one. But, yeah, that’s why I said I never could imagine going through that process again that I went through preparing for that one race.”
The Chase opens Sunday with the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (5 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “The Track Too Tough to tame” is a misnomer where Hamlin is concerned. The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has five wins and 14 top fives in 28 starts there.
Pit crew swap could give Team Penske best championship chances
Ryan Blaney learned Monday that the No. 12 pit crew that had serviced his car to this point in the season was swapped for the statistically superior No. 2 crew from Team Penske teammate and fellow Chase driver Austin Cindric.
Though Blaney accumulated three victories and earned second seeding in the Chase, his over-the-wall crew gained unwelcome notoriety for losing positions on pit road.
Both Blaney and Cindric, who is seeded 15th, provided the same rationale for the switch, namely that it gives the Penske organization the best chance to win the championship.
“Leadership called me earlier this week and kind of discussed the change and why the team felt like it made it,” Cindric said on NASCAR Cup Chase Media Day at the Charlotte Convention Center.
“I completely understand the team’s perspective for why that is and obviously the opportunity for us moving forward, so I think that’s really all it boils down to. Back to work for the next 10 weeks.”
Asked if he had gotten a chance to interact with his new crew, Cindric replied, “I find that question funny, because I would be there right now if I wasn’t having to sit here and do media.”
Blaney, who said he did not ask for a change, was quick to express appreciation to the No. 12 crew that had been with him for the first 26 races.
“This decision, I think the Penske guys just looked at it and decided, and they figured, ‘How can we change things up to where we think it will benefit the whole company?’” said Blaney, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion. “And this is what they decided.
“Thankful for what my guys did. I’m looking forward to working with the new team. I feel like they’ve been really solid on pit road all year, and a lot of those guys I’ve worked with in the past. A couple of ‘em are new guys to me, but I’m looking forward to it.
“It speaks highly of Team Penske’s depth that they can shift guys around and be able to be plugged into other teams pretty seamlessly. Looking forward to seeing how it goes.”
Despite 50-race drought, Kyle Larson sees a path to NASCAR Cup title
In his two NASCAR Cup Series championship seasons, Kyle Larson has led a charmed life.
In 2021, he was running fourth in the Championship 4 finale at Phoenix when a late caution gave him a chance to win the race off pit road from stall No. 1. Larson parlayed that opportunity into his first title.
Last year, Denny Hamlin had the field covered at Phoenix and was leading comfortably with just over three laps left when William Byron’s blown tire sent the race to overtime. After pit stops, Larson finished third to Hamlin’s sixth to steal a second championship.
Accordingly, you can’t blame Larson for seeing a pathway to another title, even though the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet hasn’t won a Cup race since May 11, 2025 at Kansas Speedway—a drought that reached 50 races last Saturday at Daytona.
“I’m not as confident as I’ve been, for sure, in other years,” Larson said during NASCAR Cup Chase Media Day at the Charlotte Convention Center. “But I wasn’t, honestly, sitting here that confident last year, and we were able to win the championship.
“So, I know there’s a path to do it. We did it last year without winning a race in the final 10. And, yeah, we weren’t even really all that consistent, from what I remember. I think if you can be ultra-consistent in these final 10, there’s no doubt that I could see ourselves winning the championship.
“I could also see ourselves winning four or five races in (the Chase). Things have to go perfect, but we do have a lot of good tracks for us in these final 10. We need to execute at a high level, and I think our team is definitely capable of that, so just try and do our best.”
The opening Chase race is Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (5 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Larson has posted one victory and seven top fives in 17 starts at the Lady in Black.
One schedule move Larson was happy to see was the shift of the final race from Phoenix to Homestead-Miami Speedway, one of his best tracks.
“Phoenix, we suck,” said Larson, even though he won his two championships there. “I’m glad that’s not the final race anymore. We are horrible there, so that’s maybe our worst track on the schedule.”
— NASCAR News Wire —