Denny Hamlin laments lack of passing in NASCAR after final stage exit at Brickyard 400

After getting released from the infield care center, Denny Hamlin reflected on his final stage exit, blaming the lack of overtaking at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for his destroyed #11 Toyota and subsequently the crown jewel race. As Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney fought for the lead, the frontrunners cleared Turn 1 without any problem but Hamlin, who ran in 21st, was unlucky.

Brickyard 400's 30th anniversary went off with Tyler Reddick as the polesitter, with Hamlin in second. However, as the 167-lap dash furthered, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver grabbed the lead from Reddick to win Stage 1. In the second stage, he dropped slightly and placed his #11 Toyota Camry in third, behind Bubba Wallace in first and Chase Elliott in second.

In the final stage, the 54x Cup Series race winner eyed to bag a win since his last at the Dover Motor Speedway, 11 race weekends ago. Hamlin successfully kept himself among the top cars but the ensuing overtime restart after Kyle Busch's spin on Lap 159 threw the JGR driver out of contention.

The first overtime restart came as the final blow to the Florida native's falling battle. The majority of the cars were running on a fuel-saving strategy, and the scope of overtaking was slimmed. Moreover, John Hunter Nemechek and Daniel Hemric collided on the restart, collecting Denny Hamlin and his future teammate Chase Briscoe in the wreck, leaving the #11 Camry's right front severely damaged.

"You couldn't pass. We were all just running in a line there saving fuel, like a speedway race. We were doing everything we could until the finish and didn't make it," a disappointed Hamlin said via Frontstretch on X.

Denny Hamlin is drifting away from the regular season championship

Since his Cup Series debut in 2005, Denny Hamlin has amassed 54 wins, including three Daytona and Southern 500s, and the 2022 Cola-Cola 600. However, the Brickyard 400 win is empty from the JGR driver's crown jewel victories closet.

While Hamlin has locked his place in the Round of 16, scheduled to commence at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, he's fourth in the regular season standings. For some time, the Florida native reigned supreme in the charts but the HMS duo Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott's consistent finishes among the top cars removed Hamlin from the pursuit.

Moreover, Tyler Reddick's recent surge since the Coca-Cola 600 with five top-5s and three top-10s has pulled him to third place in the regular season standings and has strengthened his odds of claiming his maiden Cup Series title.

With that, Denny Hamlin has been pushed back to fourth and the chance of sealing his first regular-season win, let alone the 2024 Cup Series championship, seems to be distancing itself from the veteran. Just four races are left to decide the regular season champion, and it will be interesting to see how Hamlin will fill the void of a championship in his career since his debut.