Fifteen races by way of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Collection season, Denny Hamlin was on high of the world.
The Chesterfield, Virginia, native had received three races, led the Cup Collection factors standings and had simply collected his fifth consecutive top-five end, a runner-up effort in St. Louis.
During the last 13 races, nevertheless, the No. 11 group has been in a tailspin, ending top-10 in simply 4 races, dropping 10 playoff factors on account of a penalty and ending the primary two races of the playoffs in twenty fourth and Twenty third, respectively.
Because the Cup Collection heads to Bristol for the Spherical of 16 finale, Hamlin sits six factors beneath the lower line, in peril of seeing his 2024 season finish within the Tennessee hills.
Hamlin is the NASCAR equal of the Dallas Cowboys — 12 months in and 12 months out, it is his 12 months, however that assertion by no means culminates in a championship.
Whether or not it’s an early spin, a gradual pit cease, an excessive amount of tape on the grill or a gradual automobile, Hamlin’s leads to the season finale by no means go his approach when he has an opportunity to win the title.
Within the final two years, Hamlin has been knocked out of the playoffs within the Spherical of 8, although neither incidence was his fault. Ross Chastain’s ‘Hail Melon’ ended Hamlin’s title hopes in 2022, and a steering challenge at Homestead in 2023 ended up being the deciding think about his season.
Within the playoff opener at Atlanta, a poorly thought-out technique doomed Hamlin’s day, and Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen was ill-fated from the primary lap.
A lap one crash broke Hamlin’s suspension, and whereas the No. 11 group repaired the automobile, one other late crash relegated Hamlin to a Twenty third-place end.
Even when Hamlin makes it out of the primary spherical with a clutch efficiency at Bristol, his latest droop and lack of playoff factors point out that making it previous the Spherical of 12 might take a herculean effort.
If that is the case, Hamlin might have to attend yet one more 12 months to win his first Cup Collection championship.
