Washington, D.C. – As the NASCAR season moves into the championship phase, Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing secured the top seed for the 10‑race Chase. A seventh‑place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway gave Hamlin a 25‑point cushion over the next competitor and positioned him as the early favorite for his first Cup Series championship.
Team confidence after a rough start
Hamlin described the weekend as a “bad day” that quickly turned around after a pit‑stop issue and a near‑miss crash on the opening lap. “I feel good about where our team is right now. Everyone is kind of clicking well, and we don’t have a whole lot of weaknesses,” he said.
Track strengths and challenges
The Chase will feature six tracks at least 1.366 miles long, including the 1.5‑mile ovals at Kansas, Las Vegas, Charlotte and the season‑ending Homestead‑Miami Speedway. Hamlin’s four victories this year have come on high‑speed circuits: Las Vegas, Nashville Superspeedway, Michigan International Speedway and Pocono Raceway. His teammate Christopher Bell noted that the Toyotas excel where downforce matters most, while the shorter tracks tend to favor the Penske cars.
Team Penske, currently second in the standings, has shown strength on shorter circuits. Ryan Blaney’s win at New Hampshire marked Penske’s fourth victory in six races, three of which were on tracks a mile or less. However, Penske drivers have struggled on the larger 1.5‑mile ovals, posting only four top‑10 finishes in five races, with a best result of seventh at Charlotte.
What the competition says
Team Penske president Michael Nelson acknowledged the need for improvement on the bigger tracks. “We definitely have been licking our wounds after a few of those mile‑and‑a‑half tracks. We’re trying everything through those tracks to be better, and hopefully, we’ll have the right combination,” he said.
Hamlin agreed that Penske holds an advantage on the three shorter Chase venues—Bristol, Phoenix and Martinsville—but pointed out his own strong finishes at those tracks earlier in the season. “We’re just not as strong as the Penske cars on these types of racetracks,” Hamlin said. “But Martinsville, we are good. Phoenix, we’ve been good… the mile‑and‑halves are certainly something that’s been our strength for a couple of years now.”
Other playoff contenders
With the regular‑season finale at Daytona International Speedway approaching, the top 13 spots in the Chase are locked in. Bubba Wallace is virtually assured of a spot, while the final two positions will be decided among Austin Cindric, Shane van Gisbergen and Ryan Preece, who trails by 31 points.
NASCAR has introduced new aerodynamic and horsepower rules for the 2.5‑mile Daytona oval, and there will be no practice sessions for the 400‑mile race. “I don’t think any of us know what to expect,” Preece said, adding that the field will be on a level playing field.
Wood Brothers driver’s streak
Josh Berry of Wood Brothers Racing posted a top‑10 finish streak—seventh, fourth, eighth and third—that is the longest for the team since Morgan Shepherd in 1994. Berry admitted he is racing with desperation at New Hampshire as he seeks a full‑time Cup ride for 2027. A potential opportunity vanished when Richard Childress Racing announced Austin Hill’s return for next season.
“I don’t necessarily like racing like that, but these guys know what I’m up against right now,” Berry said. “Most of them have respect for me, so I think they understand. Knocking everybody out of the way is not sustainable over a Cup season, but in this scenario, you’re just fighting for everything you can.”
Original reporting: Alexandria, VA News – WTOP News — read the source article.
