"The epitome of a missed opportunity" - NASCAR Insider weighs in on Denny Hamlin's "tenuous spot" after Kansas

Denny Hamlin started his Round of 12 of the playoffs in a similar way to the way he started the Round of 16. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who has been winless since Dover in April, entered both rounds with a specific strategy. But after the first races of both rounds, it was clear his strategies didn't work.

In the previous round's race at Atlanta, Hamlin aimed for a points-based approach, which didn't work. And at Kansas recently, he aimed for a win, which also didn't work as he finished in 8th place.

Following the race, Hamlin said he thought he had what it takes to win the race at Kansas. But because of untimely cautions and pit road woes, he never got a chance to show his or his car's prowess.

Jordan Bianchi and journalist Jeff Gluck touched on this, during the latest episode of The Teardown. Gluck said while Hamlin had been able to salvage what he could from the race, and while being 11 points to the good over the cutline, Hamlin wouldn't be feeling great heading into Talladega and ROVAL, an opinion that co-host Bianchi agreed with and elaborated on.

Bianchi said,

"You shouldn't feel great if you're Denny Hamlin going into Talladega. Of all playoff drivers left, Denny scored the fewest points this year on superspeedways. And he has not won a superspeedway race in the Next Gen era, never won a race at the ROVAL. So to me, I looked at this race at Kansas as not a must-win but a must-perform.

"You go there, you gotta get stage points, you gotta leave there with a really good finish, get as much as you can because you don't know what the next two weeks are going to be like. And to leave there with a finish that he did ... you look at that, this is the epitome of a missed opportunity," [11:00]

Bianchi added that Kansas is a racetrack where Hamlin is the active wins leader, the driver with the most top-5 finishes, and the driver who everyone considered the one to beat. Bianchi added that the #11 Camry had what it takes to win.

But the win not materializing, along with an underwhelming finish and a lack of stage points, meant that Hamlin has an 11-point advantage over the cutline, which isn't a lot, Bianchi added.

"Eleven points isn't a lot especially going into two racetraks, I know Denny is great at drafting, but this new car, doesn't fit his skillset on superspeedways anymore. This is not a good spot for him to be win. This is a very tenuous spot to be in."

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Denny Hamlin deems his Kansas top 10 finish as one of the worst days of his NASCAR career

Despite having a top-10 finish at Kansas, Denny Hamlin wasn't happy or content with his result. The #11 driver said after the checkered flag that his race at Kansas was among the worst of his career. He said,

"Maybe the worst day ever, I don't know, I've had some pretty bad days. Just a horrible day. Came out 15th to 20th and then we have loose wheel. Just terrible."

The veteran said he thought that he should've won the race because he had the fastest car. But the way things unfolded for him in the race, he could never show his potential.

In the race, every time Denny Hamlin got a sight of the top 3, a caution came, and he had to restart between 5th and 20th.

And due to this, all Hamlin could do was make up positions from the back to the front again and again until he eventually ran out of laps, and Ross Chastain won the race.