Denny Hamlin has confidently shaken off his sluggish beginning in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs as the stock car legend booked his spot in the Round of 8 following the Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte.
Occupying fourth in the standings heading into last weekend, his recent performances hadn’t quite hit the mark. However, despite early indications at Charlotte of continuing trouble—enduring a heavy impact from 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick—Hamlin weathered the collision and subsequent vehicular damage which his crew deemed too extensive to substantially fix during the race.
Gritting it out, he snagged a 14th-place finish to cling onto his spot in the Round of 8 with William Byron, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Reddick himself, Chase Elliott, and Joey Logano, who replaced the disqualified Alex Bowman. Post-event, Hamlin reflected on his uphill battle with NBC Sports. “Seven is the same as a hundred,” Hamlin said, with his laughter punctuating the relief and resilience of a driver back in stride. He continued to acknowledge the delicate tactical balance required when ahead.
“It’s such a tough spot to be in when you’re kind of up like we were because the only thing that really can hurt you is a really detrimental day so you can’t be as aggressive as you really want to but you can’t lose a bunch of track position either,” he added. Celebrating the team effort, Hamlin continued: “Great vibe, great job by this Sports Clips Haircuts Toyota team. Chris Gabehart and the team just did an awesome job of keeping us in it. Luckily we were able to come away with a top-15 there.”
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Moreover, Hamlin opened up about the collision caused by Reddick, his own racer from team 23XI Racing, which he co-owns with NBA legend Michael Jordan. “Really, the biggest thing is it just messed up the alignment and obviously bent the tow link or something on the rear,” Hamlin disclosed. “So we lost some car speed there with that. But just glad it didn’t have a detrimental outcome to the day. But now these tracks coming up, now we race.”
Even as Hamlin nearly faced an early exit due to Reddick’s actions, the NASCAR heavyweight maintained a positive outlook post-race. Reddick was also under pressure to perform to guarantee his position in the Round of 8, which he achieved successfully.
Despite absorbing most of the impact, Reddick’s squad managed to patch up the car well enough for competitive racing. Reddick fought tenaciously during the Roval 400, taking risks and outmaneuvering others to ensure he didn’t become the first regular-season champ to miss the Round of 8.
Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick were involved in a nasty crash early on (
Getty)
At the end of the eventful race, Reddick clinched 11th place, earning him a spot in the coveted final eight. Following the race, Hamlin and Jordan were spotted briefly chatting with Reddick to commend him on his performance.
Reddick also detailed how his race unfolded and the damage his car sustained after colliding with Hamlin, his boss, saying: “I think I was behind the No. 19 [Martin Truex Jr.] just trying to work the move to the inside. I got clear of him – I saw the No. 3 [Dillon] spun and everybody was on the binders coming to a stop. Of course, me and my boss [Hamlin] get together. Felt like I was gonna do a front flip – this thing was absolutely destroyed.”
With the drivers in the Round of 8 now decided, Hamlin and Reddick find themselves in contrasting positions. Reddick is currently third, 10 points above the cut line, while Hamlin is sixth, eight points below the cut line.
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