Denny Hamlin Reflects on 2025 NASCAR Championship Heartbreak, Makes Bold Prediction for Chase Format

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Nearly three months have passed since Denny Hamlin watched the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship slip away on the final lap at Phoenix Raceway, yet the sting remains fresh. Speaking candidly on his weekly Actions Detrimental podcast, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver revisited the race that left him questioning the very structure of the sport’s playoff system.

“November burned for me personally,” Hamlin said. “That didn’t have anything to do with the format, but it was just a microcosm of our playoff format. It was, ‘Oh wait a minute, this doesn’t feel right.’ You should not leave the championship event in racing, baseball, or football, saying, ‘Uh, I don’t know. Something didn’t seem right about that.’”

The raw numbers only deepen the frustration. According to Hamlin, he out-pointed race-winner Kyle Larson across the 312-lap event and led every circuit until the overtime restart that decided the title. “We actually scored more points than Kyle Larson in that event,” Hamlin noted. “What I couldn’t believe when I saw it is that the race was 312 laps, we’re in front of [Larson] for 312 laps. Not one lap was he ahead of us until the overtime finish.”

Hamlin’s experience has become a flashpoint in the ongoing debate over NASCAR’s championship format. Ahead of the 2026 season, the sanctioning body scrapped the winner-take-all finale in favor of a 10-race Chase that rewards season-long excellence. Under the new structure, the top 16 drivers after 26 regular-season races will contest 10 playoff events, and the driver highest in points at the conclusion of that stretch will be crowned champion—no single race will decide the title.

Hamlin believes the tweak will favor the most consistent competitors from the outset. “Whoever the champion is going to be is going to finish in the top three of the regular season,” he predicted. “That’s who the champion will be in the top three.”

The 43-year-old Virginian argues that the regular-season champion deserves a meaningful advantage. “He earned it. Whoever it is, they earned it,” Hamlin said. “If they clinch a week early, they f***ing earned it. Leave him alone.”

Hamlin’s own 2026 campaign began inauspiciously with a 31st-place finish in Sunday’s Daytona 500, a result punctuated by late-race chaos. Still, with 25 regular-season events remaining, he has ample time to climb inside the top 16 and secure a Chase berth. Adding a silver lining, 23XI Racing—co-owned by Hamlin and basketball legend Michael Jordan—celebrated victory lane as Tyler Reddick captured the Harley J. Earl Trophy.

As the series heads to Atlanta this weekend, Hamlin’s focus shifts from reflection to resurgence, carrying both the memory of last year’s heartbreak and a conviction that the retooled playoff format will reward the kind of consistency that eluded him in the championship race.