Denny Hamlin climbs NASCAR championship odds, all-time wins list
The guys discuss Denny Hamlin’s win at Las Vegas and what it means for the NASCAR playoffs and career wins list. They also preview the Talladega race.
- Chase Briscoe won the chaotic playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway, securing a spot in the championship four.
- Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson currently hold the final two transfer spots heading into the next race.
- The final race of the Round of 8 will take place at Martinsville Speedway before the championship in Phoenix.
That was more like it.
After April’s race at Talladega Superspeedway featured oddly clean racing late, the return trip to the big Alabama track in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs brought more chaos.
Seventy-seven lead changes, which ranks fourth-most all-time. Multiple wrecks involving the leader, including one with Chris Buescher in the final 10 laps. Overtime.
The end result: Chase Briscoe received a good push from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs and collected the checkers in the YellaWood 500. The win, his first at a superspeedway, put him in the championship four.
He and Denny Hamlin are the only drivers who have already secured their spots.
“Ty Gibbs, just an incredible teammate there,” Briscoe said on the NBC broadcast. “I honestly would not have won that race without Ty. Just an amazing team effort. I can’t believe I won a superspeedway race. I haven’t done it at any level … It’s not hit me. We’re going to Phoenix.”
Here are three takeaways.
1. Chase Briscoe clinches NASCAR championship race berth
In his first season in Martin Truex Jr.’s old No. 19 JGR seat, Briscoe will compete for a title for the first time. The 30-year-old claimed the fifth win of his career and third of the season. He previously triumphed at Pocono in June and Darlington in August.
His Darlington win came during the opening race of the playoffs.
But ’Dega represents a whole ’nother beast.
“Even today, I just had such a peace,” Briscoe said. “Normally, I’m scared to death, a nervous wreck around this place.”
He led 16 laps. Joey Logano spent the longest time in front, leading 35 laps. He placed 16th.
Todd Gilliland, Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace and Cole Custer rounded out the top five.
2. NASCAR playoff standings after Talladega
Outside of Briscoe, it wasn’t a great day for other drivers still alive in the playoffs. Only Christopher Bell, in eighth, placed in the top 15.
As a result, he ranks third in the standings, 37 points above the cutline and one point above Kyle Larson, who currently holds the final championship position. Larson charged for the lead in overtime but ran out of gas on the last lap.
Here are the four drivers below the cutline:
- 5. William Byron: -36
- 6. Joey Logano: -38
- 7. Ryan Blaney: -47
- 8. Chase Elliott: -63
Logano placed 16th in the YellaWood 500. Blaney finished 23rd, two cars in front of Byron in 25th. And Elliott was wrapped up in the first crash of the day, dropping him to a dead-last 40th.
3. NASCAR schedule update: Martinsville, then Phoenix
OK, back to normal.
The superspeedway that is Talladega is always one moment away from chaos and unpredictability. Sunday represented the playoffs’ true wild-card race.
But the Round of 8 will wrap up under more standard conditions. Martinsville Speedway will host the Xfinity 500 at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 26. The race will air on NBC.
Martinsville remains a classic NASCAR track, a half-mile oval that opened in 1947.
Last time the Cup Series competed there, in March, Hamlin prevailed. Due to his win last week, Hamlin is already locked into the championship four no matter what happens in the Round of 8 finale.
After the trip to Martinsville, all roads lead to the one-mile dogleg oval, Phoenix Raceway, and its Cup Series title race on Nov. 2.
