TRENDING Latest NFL updates J-Dub suffers devastating injury NFL Week 7 Winners and Losers Early Week 8 Waiver Wire Luka drops 52 on Jazz Story by Story by How Can Hamlin Prevent Yet Another NASCAR Cup Title Defeat? Jonathan Fjeld Mon, October 26, 2026 at 10:17 PM UTC · 3 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement RIDGEWAY, Va. — Denny Hamlin is in a position he has been in many times before in his NASCAR Cup Series career: Second in the points standings with the pinch of a points deficit getting tighter.
Hamlin sits second in the standings with two races to go – and a whopping 73 points to make up.
Yet, when you ask Hamlin if the championship is over, he said, "No," even after a crushing race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Hamlin lost 43 points to leader Kyle Larson after he finished eighth with no stage points. Meanwhile, Larson won the race after finishing fourth and second in the stages.
Hamlin incurred a massive points swing in the final two turns. Entering turn three, Hamlin was third after Larson was shuffled from the lead to 11th. If the race ended there, Hamlin would've lost just nine points and fell to 39 behind Larson heading to Martinsville.
However, a shuffle up front knocked Hamlin back to eighth and put Larson in victory lane after the checkered flag flew at Talladega. That put Larson up 73 points over Hamlin, 74 over Christopher Bell, 79 over Chase Briscoe, 100 over Joey Logano, 107 over Ryan Blaney and 126 over Tyler Reddick.
The maximum amount of points a driver can earn in a single race is 76. All Larson needs to do is gain three points on Hamlin, two points on Bell and make sure he doesn't lose three points to Briscoe, 24 to Logano, 31 to Blaney and 50 to Reddick.
Larson could easily clinch the Cup Series championship at Martinsville. Yet, there is a way for Hamlin to bring it reel him right back in.
Hamlin swept the stages and ran the fastest lap of the race with clearly the fastest car in the field. He only failed to win after a fortunate caution and two late-race restarts favored Chase Elliott's Hail Mary strategy call during a green flag pit stop cycle with 89 laps to go.
Kyle Larson finished ninth and earned 30 points after collecting two stage points. With the second-place finish and effort during the race, Hamlin earned 56 points.
Had that been a win, Hamlin would've earned 76 points and gained 46 on Larson.
A repeat of that next Sunday at Martinsville would reverse everything Larson did at Talladega – putting Hamlin down 27 to Larson, entering Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The best scenario for Hamlin at Homestead-Miami at that point? Win at Homestead-Miami and earn eight more stage points than Larson. No matter what Larson would do, he would lose the championship.
Hamlin can't tie for the championship. Larson has three wins in the Chase. Hamlin would have two at that point.
According to the NASCAR rulebook, ties are broken based on race wins, second-place finishes, third-place finishes, etc, in the Chase.
(Ex: Austin Cindric is tied with Ty Gibbs in the points standings but is ahead of him. Despite not having any wins this season, while Gibbs has two wins, Cindric's best Chase finishes are second and fourth while Gibbs' best are second and fifth.)
Although the championship doesn't seem close now, a generational run by Hamlin at Martinsville could still make this a battle for the ages.
Denny Hamlin's Closest Years to the Cup, Ranked 2025
Source: Sports
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