Denny Hamlin handed a gift to his longtime rival, and we don't mean Chase Elliott

Before the final restart, one which was led by five 23XI Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas, in Sunday's round of 12 playoff race at Kansas Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott was just four points above the round of 8 cut line.

He faced the prospect of going into next weekend's round of 12 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval facing elimination in the quarterfinal round for the first time since his rookie season in 2016.

But thanks to a move for which Bubba Wallace labeled Denny Hamlin, his own team owner, a "dumbass", Elliott crept up on the Toyotas, passed them all, and delivered the No. 9 team and Chevrolet a surprising first playoff win of the year.

In doing so, the 2020 champion punched his ticket to the round of 8 for the eighth time in nine years.

But Elliott wasn't the only major beneficiary from Hamlin effectively taking a win away from Wallace, only to finish second anyway.

The big winner? Joey Logano.

Last year, Logano was eliminated after the round of 12. Then Alex Bowman was disqualified from the Charlotte Roval race, and once the points were adjusted, Logano actually advanced. And despite a P15 finish in the regular season standings, he parlayed that lifeline into a third career championship.

Perhaps something similar happened, or at least started to happen, on Sunday at Kansas. Wallace entered the day 12th and last among playoff drivers in the standings following the round of 12 opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Even with a fifth place finish, he's still well below the round of 8 cut line.

Elliott, meanwhile, entered the day above the cutoff, and he was poised to remain there, even if by only a handful of points, had Wallace won.

Logano, however, was not.

Because Elliott won instead of Wallace, Logano is the eighth and final driver above the cut line, and he's 13 points ahead of Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain for that eighth spot.

Had Wallace won, Logano would be sitting on the outside looking in, eight points behind Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe for that spot.

When the dust eventually settles on the round of 12, Logano may very well have Hamlin to thank for allowing him to advance to the round of 8. And though it may not be an even-numbered year, when he's six-for-six in terms of getting to the Championship 4, giving Logano a lifeline this deep into the playoffs is not something that generally works out well for his rivals.

The Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval is scheduled to host the Bank of America Roval 400 this Sunday, October 5, with live coverage of the round of 12 finale set to begin on USA Network at 3:00 p.m. ET. Catch all of the action with a free trial of FuboTV today!