Denny Hamlin came to Darlington as the No. 1 seed in NASCAR’s new Chase.
He left with the points lead.
Everything in between was rather more complicated.
Hamlin’s bid for a fourth Southern 500 victory took a serious beating early in the final stage Sunday night when his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota went into the wall off Turn 4.
It was not exactly the sort of thing a championship leader wants to see in the opening race of a 10-race postseason.
Hamlin got loose exiting Turn 4 shortly after the final stage began and was then contacted from behind by Michael McDowell. The contact turned Hamlin’s Toyota into the outside wall right-front-first, sending it sliding down the track as the rest of the field scrambled to avoid him.
Hamlin fell to 20th, the final car on the lead lap.
And that was only the latest installment in a night that had already gone somewhat sideways.
Hamlin entered the Southern 500 as the No. 1 Chase seed, carrying a 25-point advantage over Ryan Blaney. He had also finished the second stage third.
Then his pit crew decided to make things interesting.
A sluggish pit stop at the end of Stage 2, including trouble getting the right-rear wheel tightened, cost Hamlin 13 positions. Instead of restarting third for the final stage, he was 16th.
A few laps later, he was in the wall.
Hamlin continued without immediately pitting for repairs, but told crew chief Chris Gayle that he believed the right-side toe links were broken. Kyle Larson eventually lapped the No. 11 on lap 266.
Because apparently one problem wasn’t enough.
When Zane Smith spun on lap 283 and brought out a caution, the JGR crew went to work. Gayle confirmed the right-front toe link was bent, although the right-rear toe link was not. There was also the possibility of damage to the lower or upper control arms, but the team couldn’t determine exactly what had happened — or find enough damage to make meaningful adjustments.
So Hamlin went back out and got on with it.
He returned to competition one lap down in 30th, eventually fought his way back onto the lead lap and salvaged an 18th-place finish.
Considering the evening’s trajectory, that was less a result than an escape.
“Certainly not the finish we were hoping for,” Hamlin said. “Good first couple of stages. Just got where our car was actually the best right before that wreck in Stage 3.”
That may have been the most frustrating part.
Hamlin felt the car had finally come around.
“We certainly made gains on it all day,” he said. “It was really good in the short run. We got it good in the long run by the time that third stage came, but never got to see it through.”
The good news for Hamlin is that NASCAR’s new Chase is a 10-race marathon, not a one-night firing squad.
He still leads the championship standings.
And he’s not particularly interested in feeling sorry for himself.
Asked whether he was getting tired of having to drive damaged race cars to prove he could do it, Hamlin gave a very Denny Hamlin answer.
“Not really. I mean, it’s a professional sport. So you can’t have big mistakes.”
He then pointed directly at the pit stop that helped create the mess.
“We just had a tough pit stop there that set us back from third to about 20th,” Hamlin said. “Once we got back there, you’re with guys that are a little bit more aggressive and don’t really care about the points or anything like that and so you just sometimes you don’t get cut a break and that’s the way it goes.”
Translation: Don’t make the mistake, and you don’t have to deal with the consequences.
Hamlin didn’t.
At least not one big enough to lose the championship lead.
“We’re still leading,” he said. “So we got to just go to the next racetrack and execute at a high level.”
After surviving Darlington, Hamlin’s championship optimism remains intact.
“We’ll do our best to execute a much better day next week than what we did this week.”
Considering how this one went, that should be a fairly achievable goal.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
- Denny Hamlin takes a beating and still leaves Darlington on top - September 6, 2026
- William Byron’s Chase starts with one very large mulligan - September 6, 2026
- Christopher Bell finally escapes NASCAR’s second-place purgatory - September 6, 2026