"It can happen" - Denny Hamlin maps out Bubba Wallace’s path to NASCAR playoffs

Denny Hamlin recently shared his take on Bubba Wallace, who needs a very particular result at Darlington to make the playoffs. After Harrison Burton's win at Daytona, the Wood Brothers driver, who was 34th in points, booked his playoff berth, further complicating the path for the 23XI Racing driver.

Wallace is currently -21 below the cutline. And as Hamlin's co-host Jared Allen mentioned on the recent episode of Actions Detrimental podcast, he'd need to make up 21 points on Chris Buescher to make the playoffs.

Denny Hamlin claimed Wallace making up the points gap was possible, as he shed some light on one aspect of the Southern 500 and its past results. Hamlin spoke about how usually at Darlington, there are 4-5 cars running up front who have bad days, claiming that it can happen to anyone.

"It can happen. So, I wouldn't hold out hope against Bubba going out and just having a great day. If he goes out there and he can get top 3 in each stage, and finish in the top 3, I think they'll put a tremendous amount of pressure on others to go out there and not have a bad day," Hamlin explained. [29:59]

Further in the podcast, Allen wondered if Hamlin had any issues with the playoff format and Burton's win at Daytona which put him in the playoffs.

"I don't know. We're on the plane home right? Everyone on the plane had an opinion on how to fix all of this stuff. But it's certainly not ideal from the ownership standpoint," Hamlin said. [35:25]

The 23XI Racing co-owner pointed to his driver being 13th in points, while a driver who is 34th will be ranked ahead in a couple of weeks being a playoff car. Hamlin claimed he finds it "hard to swallow" but he knows it's the rules.

Having said that, he added that it's upto them to just win.

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Denny Hamlin is liking the performances Bubba Wallace has put in of late

With only two finishes outside the top 10 in the last seven races, Bubba Wallace is having one of the most consistent seasons of his career. Even though he is winless so far and out of playoffs with one race left, Wallace has registered 5 finishes inside the top 5 so far this season.

This has been the most for him at this stage of the year in his entire Cup career.

And despite him not being part of the playoffs or having a win next to his name this year, his boss Denny Hamlin isn't entirely unhappy with his driver.

"It’s not sour grapes on my end that the #23 team’s in this spot. It’s just, man, I’m liking at least what I’m seeing when it comes to the performance now. This is good, acceptable performance. I hate that it’s come so late in the game, but they’re on it right now. They’re running well," Hamlin said of Wallace. [47:25]

With that said, it'll be interesting to see how Bubba Wallace fares in the upcoming race at Darlington.

He'd have to either win the race or get 26 more points than Chris Buescher to make the playoffs.