NASCAR Cup Series: Reviewing the first four drivers out of the playoffs

Denny Hamlin

Denny Hamlin has been very quiet since the Chase Elliott kerfuffle that happened nearly a year ago. He was also the biggest surprise out of the first four drivers to be eliminated from playoff contention following the round of 16.

Hamlin, who was one of my sleepers to make a deep playoff run, found himself falling short of his ultimate goal once again. After crashing out in the playoff opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he came to one of his best statistical racetracks, Richmond Raceway, and only managed a 16th place finish.

All of the adversity combined led to Hamlin being 29 points below the round of 12 cut line heading into the race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway roval.

As the film played out, Hamlin battled all day long in the Queen City, but he ultimately came home in 12th place and was well short of advancing in the playoffs. Though I was surprised, him missing the cut is in line with his season.

All year long, Hamlin has been just short of finding success. He kicked off the season strong with four finishes of sixth place or better in the first five races. However, he hit a few bumps mid-season before putting together a string of eight consecutive top 16 finishes ahead of the playoffs.

Hamlin has yet to find victory lane in 2018 with just seven races remaining on the schedule, and he is straddling a 12.9 average finish. In the year of the “big three”, he has become an afterthought inside the Cup Series garage.

I’ve always said that Hamlin has talent, but I believe his title-contending days are over. For him to finish strong in 2018, he needs to get back to being himself. Run up front, lead laps and go for wins. Something has been off with him this year, and it’s time for him to dial in on the missing link.