LEBANON, Tenn. — Recent off his second points-paying NASCAR Cup Sequence victory of the 12 months after a exceptional bounce from pole place to final within the discipline again to victory lane at Nashville Superspeedway Sunday night time, Denny Hamlin smiled and conceded. … he’s nonetheless in all probability not shut sufficient to make a run at championship factors chief Tyler Reddick for the common season title.
In some methods it’s a glass half full state of affairs for the veteran, who has earned top-five finishes in half the 14 races this 12 months – 9 top-10 showings and claimed the All-Star victory.
For all his fantastic effort and dedication – i.e., his superb run Sunday – Hamlin nonetheless trails Reddick by 97 factors on the midpoint of the common season. And that’s progress contemplating the five-race winner, Reddick, has held a three-digit benefit on the sphere for a lot of the season.
The upside for Hamlin? He’s additionally co-owner of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota that Reddick has earned a lot success on this season. Requested if he realistically thought he might catch Reddick in what’s trying like a two-man chase for the highest spot on the finish of the common season, Hamlin didn’t hesitate.
“Not likely,” mentioned the 45-year-old Hamlin, who with 62 wins is the winningest fulltime driver within the collection. “We’d must win three or 4 extra races. He’s going to must have some DNFs and stuff. So not likely. My objective is to attempt to keep P2, and that will probably be shut sufficient with 10 [races] to go.”
Analyzing the factors standings at this significant season midpoint – the time most drivers defer to as being a real championship barometer – the factors are fairly shut past the Reddick-Hamlin duel.
Staff Penske’s Ryan Blaney – the 2024 collection champion – is third, however a considerable 174 factors off Reddick’s blazing path. Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Sequence champion, sits solely 23 factors behind Blaney, and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs is 34 factors off Blaney in fifth place – the very best the 23-year-old Gibbs has ever been ranked this far into the season.
Solely the highest 16 drivers qualify for The Chase within the championship format launched for 2026. Drivers are likely to defer to the common season “midway level” – final week’s Charlotte 600-miler – because the true mark of the place a crew falls competitively so positions within the standings are being watched extra carefully.
Past these high 5 drivers, the present title-chasing group heading into subsequent Sunday’s Firekeepers On line casino 400 at Michigan Speedway contains: two-time and reigning collection champ, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, Sunday night time’s race runner-up, JGR’s Christopher Bell, former common season champ, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher, Spire Motorsports race winners Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suarez, final 12 months’s common season champ, Hendrick’s William Byron and a brand new member of the title-chase membership, Trackhouse Racing’s second-year Cup Sequence driver Shane Van Gisbergen.
Roush Fenway Keselowski owner-driver Brad Keselowski, JGR’s Chase Briscoe, Reddick’s 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace and Penske’s Austin Cindric at the moment make up the top-16 within the standings. Cindric holds a precarious two-point edge over RFK’s Ryan Preece for that remaining Chase place heading into the grueling summer season schedule.
Of observe amongst this listing is the New Zealander and former Australian Tremendous Automobile Sequence champ Van Gisbergen, a world-renowned street course racer who has been exhibiting his oval enchancment and progress with each passing week. His fifth-place exhibiting at Nashville was his greatest on an oval as was his 12 laps led whole. And he wasn’t simply good on the finish, he was robust all night time lengthy constantly holding place among the many top-10.
“Beginning up entrance clearly helps, nevertheless it was cool to guide some laps and battle on the entrance,” a smiling Van Gisbergen mentioned Sunday post-race. “Our Chevy was working very well all night time. I actually loved myself tonight.
“I realized loads. I realized to be comfy shifting round in (turns) one and two, which I’ve by no means been capable of do earlier than. We simply bought the stability higher on the two-tire technique. Once we have been on a four-tire technique, we have been missing that. The 2-tire cease on the finish, we have been capable of get the stability again once more. It was quite a lot of enjoyable. It positively appears like we’re making headway.”
The combo of former champions and new faces set the tone in an more and more tight title combine that doesn’t but embrace three-time champ Joey Logano, who now sits 9 factors behind his Staff Penske teammate Cindric, or perennial title favourite Ross Chastain, who’s ranked twenty sixth within the standings.
It actually ups the championship ante heading into this summer season stretch of races – beginning with the Michigan two-miler on Sunday (Hamlin is the defending race winner) and highlighted by conventional venues at Pocono, Atlanta, the Sonoma, Calif. street course, the July 4 weekend return of Chicagoland Speedway and naturally the much-anticipated inaugural San Diego avenue course occasion on Naval Base Coronado.
“Definitely, happy with our entire crew for simply preserving our heads down and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports for persevering with to only chip away at it, man,” Elliott mentioned. “It’s a protracted 12 months.”
