“There is going to be a wrath”: Denny Hamlin extremely clear about repercussions following Team Penske’s Championship 4 driver’s NASCAR title
Denny Hamlin has revealed the repercussions if Team Penske's Joey Logano successfully secures his third NASCAR Cup Series title. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver commented on the sport's broken playoff format while outlining a wrath-like situation following the #22 Ford Mustang's triumph.
The recent XFINITY 500 race finalized the four drivers for the Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway. This includes Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, and William Byron. It's worth mentioning that Logano was kicked out of the playoffs after his P8 finish at Charlotte Roval but Alex Bowman's DQ reinstated the Team Penske driver. Logano won the following Las Vegas Motor Speedway race, punching his Championship 4 ticket.
However, had NASCAR followed the Sprint Cup Chase format which prevailed until the 2014 season, drivers like Kyle Larson, who boasts six wins, the most among all drivers this season, would still be in the title fight. Due to the knockout format eliminating four drivers after every third race, the Hendrick Motorsports driver got eradicated after finishing third at Martinsville Speedway.
Denny Hamlin foresaw that if Joey Logano won the Phoenix race, there would be a severe social media backlash about the 'broken' playoff format. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver cited Larson and Kevin Harvick's example as the drivers who missed out on the title despite having numerous wins.
He said (via Dirty Mo Media).
"If Joey Logano wins this title, there is going to be a wrath on social media about this format. It already is. it's so interesting because Kyle Larson, you said in this season or when you decided this (format) that you want to put an emphasis on winning, he's won more races than anyone by a long way, and yet he is not part of the title fight," Denny Hamlin said (0:04).
"Kevin Harvick won 10 races (*won nine races in 2020 season) and didn't get to race for a title. The format is broken and if you disagree, you're in denial," the JGR driver added.
Had the knockout format not been in the picture, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin would've had a shot at the 2024 Championship.
Denny Hamlin is critical of NASCAR's cutoff race problem
The Round of 8 eliminator race at Martinsville saw a barrage of controversies surfacing shortly after the 500-lap event got done and dusted. This included Christopher Bell's wall ride on the final lap and race manipulation by Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace, and Ross Chastain.
NASCAR slapped the violators with severe penalties. Bell was disqualified from the playoffs and William Byron was reinstated while Dillon, Wallace, and Chastain were each given a $100,000 fine and were docked 50 driver points. Moreover, owners of Trackhouse Racing, Richard Childress Racing, and 23XI Racing were awarded a $100,000 penalty and were stripped of 50 owner points.
But Denny Hamlin believes the situation arose because NASCAR's playoff format resets after every third race and guarantees the race-winner automatic advancement into the next round. And as Phoenix is the only race remaining in the 2024 season, the Chevy and Toyota drivers helped their OEM teammates punch their Championship 4 ticket.
"I can't emphasize enough that this is not just a Martinsville problem, this is every cutoff race problem. It's the format. I hate to say this is the format because you've only got a three-race season. So, it's always like NASCAR manufacturers that we're going to make these points keep resetting and tighten them up and tighten up the restart, we're going to tighten it up," Hamlin said.
Do you think NASCAR should return to its Chase format in which the top driver from the 10-race slate becomes the Cup Series champion?