Last weekend at Darlington changed the outlook of the NASCAR Playoffs. Denny Hamlin was one of the few who did well. When it came to the opening race of the postseason, the playoff field largely struggled.
Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, and Denny Hamlin were the only playoff drivers in the top-10 at Darlington. Those four are now in a good position to advance to the next round, barring major problems the next two weeks.
This week on Actions Detrimental, Hamlin talked about the drivers who got the job done and those who fell behind at Darlington. He started with the obvious examples.
“The Hendrick guys, obviously, the result was bad,” Denny Hamlin explained. “I think they were better than that, I think they’re getting, the fans are getting a little too overzealous on like, wow, they performed 17th or worse. They did not. The 9 obviously got caught on his strategy, unfortunately, by that yellow. That hurt him. Larson, more than likely, had toe link damage, if I had to guess.
“Byron wasn’t good. And then the 48, I don’t know. … So, I don’t know. Surely it altered the result, surely it changed his result but I just don’t know if the 48 was going to be that good anyway.”
Of course, Josh Berry had a big mistake on Lap 1. His car bottomed out, and from there, it was over. Wrecked and 128 laps down by the time he was back on the track.
“In Josh Berry’s defense, it’s very hard to control a car that bottoms out the way his bottomed out, and you could hear it,” Denny Hamlin said about the wreck. “Like, it hit hard, and he completely lost control of it. Yeah, it’s going to be really hard to save a car that bottoms out as bad as his did.”
When it came to the good news, 23XI Racing was the first team he thought of. Both Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace showed that they are ready for these NASCAR Playoffs.
“Yeah, 23XI had a really good day. You know, Bubba, I thought in the first stage was super strong,” the 23XI team owner explained. “He passed us and was kinda catching the 19 before he pitted.”
The 45 was so close to winning this race. If dirty air wasn’t such a problem, maybe it would have happened.
“Reddick got back on the horse with speed,” Hamlin continued. “I thought he was going to pass the 19. I thought he was leaps and bounds faster than he was at the end of the race. Obviously, the dirty air and whatnot, he wasn’t going to get around him.”
Outside of those drivers, Denny Hamlin mentioned Ross Chastain had a strong run. Chastain had to drop back in the field after fighting for a top-five spot. His team didn’t get enough fuel into the car on the final pit stop and his fuel saving cost him positions.
This week, the NASCAR Playoffs head to Gateway. Let’s see who advances and who puts themselves in a must-win position going to Bristol.
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