Denny Hamlin is on the verge of a major letdown unless he can live up to his own prediction of clinching the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Currently in the Round of 8 but trailing below the cut line, the accomplished racer must either come out victorious in Miami or Virginia or rack up enough points to secure a spot in the Championship 4 in Phoenix on Nov. 10. Joey Logano, a two-time Cup Series champion, has already snagged the first slot in the championship round following his Las Vegas win.

Meanwhile, Hamlin‘s playoff performance has been hampered by mediocrity and a chaotic incident at the Vegas pit stop, setting him back significantly. With only two races left, Hamlin finds himself 27 points shy of fourth-place contender William Byron.

“This is it. This is the year. This is the year it’s going to happen,” Hamlin declared to Fox Sports earlier this year, exuding confidence about finally winning his first championship.

Hamlin also predicted who would join him in the Championship 4 in recent weeks. “Me, [Kyle] Larson, [Christopher] Bell, and [Chase] Elliott,” Hamlin said about who would make the Championship 4. However, Hamlin’s prediction doesn’t look to be shaping up too well.

Logano took the first spot with the win in Vegas, and both himself and former Cup Series champion Elliott are in the danger zone, with the latter a whopping 53 points adrift. Both Hamlin and his crew chief Chris Gabehart have called for better execution, with Sunday’s result not yielding enough points necessary to keep competitive in the Round of 8.

“Yeah, just not a clean day,” Hamlin said. “That certainly kind of sums it up. You’ll have that. We’ll just do the best we can to get the best finish.”

Hamlin is currently in the cut zone in the Round of 8 ( 

Image:

Getty)

“I thought [crew chief] Chris [Gabehart] did a great job trying to get some sort of finish. Once we lost the track position early, he was doing everything he could to try to get it back through some alternate strategy. It goes long there, we fall back to the back. Just part of it. In the Round of 8, that’s not enough points,” Gabehart added.

“I mean, eighth with no stage points is not going to get it done, certainly considering, the setback we had for ourselves there late in the season with a huge penalty.

“So not the day we hoped for. You’ve just got to execute cleaner than that in the Round of 8. We’re just not executing on pit road.”