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Denny Hamlin, the current points leader, appeared destined to claim the regular season championship. But NASCAR stripped the coveted title.
Hamlin is going through one of his most successful seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series, with four victories, 13 top-10s and 11 top-fives under his belt.
Furthermore, he leads the championship standings with 842 points, and a 3.64 average finish on drafting tracks like Talladega Superspeedway and Daytona International Speedway, something last achieved by Richard “The King” Petty back in 1977. Hamlin is currently 21 races into the season.
So, one can only imagine his reaction when NASCAR decided to scrap the regular season championship. Speaking of the decision, the driver said on his weekly Actions Detrimental podcast,
“They don’t want me to be a champion. I’m pretty sure that as part of the press release for the new playoff format, the regular season title is gone. So there is no regular season champion anymore.”
“It’s incredible,” he added. “The one time you win the regular season, they get rid of it.”
Now the points leader at the end of the regular season will just enter the playoffs as the top seed. There will no formal trophy or recognition for the driver.
With the introduction of the Chase championship format, the playoffs point system was also removed. Winning races or stages won’t result in a postseason advantage. So all drivers will enter the playoffs on an equal footing.
Denny Hamlin Still Has One Crown Jewel Box To Check
Denny Hamlin has won almost every NASCAR crown jewel race, and that too, multiple times.
Almost every crown jewel, that is, except the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
This year marks the event’s 30th running at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hamlin has won the Coca-Cola 600, the Daytona 500 twice and the Southern 500 thrice.
He finished third in last year’s running of the Brickyard 400. The year before that, Hamlin crashed out late after leading 21 laps. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was leading the race in 2020 and looked poised to win until he blew his tire and slammed hard into the wall. Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick won the event that year, marking his third Brickyard 400 triumph.
Bubba Wallace, who drives for 23XI Racing, which Hamlin owns, won last year’s Brickyard 400. It was his first crown jewel victory, following which Hamlin joined the Alabama native to kiss the “Bricks”.
“Kissing the bricks as an owner is bittersweet. Wish I was doing it with my 11 team. They gave me everything I needed this weekend. But I’m happy for @BubbaWallace and @23XIRacing. They deserved it.”
Hamlin has two more shots at the coveted event, given he retires after the 2027 season. Scheduled for Sunday, July 26, the 400-mile race will be televised on TNT Sports or listen to exclusive radio updates on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, starting at 2 pm ET.
