Denny Hamlin recently identified the drivers he believed were suffering “sleepless nights” because of their playoff predicament. On the most recent episode of Actions Detrimental, Hamlin was asked for the names of the drivers he felt were “worried” about making it to the postseason this year.
Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, and Chris Buescher. These were the drivers Hamlin mentioned. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver also pointed out the drivers near those four who weren’t sitting on a good cushion.
“They’re worried. They got a little bit of a gap there to Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman has got like … they got like a 50-60 point gap which, trust me, can go away really quickly, all you gotta do is blow up on lap 1 and 2. They got a little bit of a buffer and I think they’re running good enough where they’re not crazy worried,” Hamlin said. [38:15]
The #11 driver mentioned that Ross Chastain is “running good enough”, inside the top 10 or around it for most weeks.Hamlin claimed if he does that week after week, it would be enough for him to make the playoffs.
“You just can’t have runs in the 15s or 20s. Too many of those, you open yourself up to a new winner coming, moving the cut line again,” he added.
Denny Hamlin comments on Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, and Kyle Busch
Further speaking on this subject, Denny Hamlin underlined his “sleepless nights people”, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace, and Chris Buescher. The #11 driver claimed those are the drivers who are “sweating it right now.”This led his co-host, Jared Allen, to wonder if those four drivers were worried because they did not have the potential to win a race.
Hamlin claimed while not having the potential yet is the reason they haven’t won yet, the possibility of them having an Austin Cindric weekend is also on the table.
“Maybe you have that outlook. But they’re in that position, a 180 or 170 behind because they haven’t had the speed that it takes to really win,” Hamlin reasoned.
Having said that, Denny Hamlin deemed Joey Logano “the most dangerous” driver in that group of four. He claimed it is so because the Penske driver qualifies well and puts himself in positions to win races.
As for Chris Buescher, Hamlin said the RFK Racing driver “finds ways to put himself up front by the end of these races” which could lead him to a race win.The #11 driver claimed Logano and Buescher are the two most dangerous as far as execution is concerned as he shifted his focus to Busch and Wallace.
“Bubba has got speed. Since the short tracks, he hasn’t had the top 5 speed that we want to see. Busch again not top 5 speed that I’ve seen and his finishes fluctuate quite a bit. Those that are outside the cut, I’m not really sure I think is a huge threat to win the race,” Hamlin mentioned.
With that said, Denny Hamlin pointed to the superspeedway coming up, Nashville on July 1, which could shake up the standings.
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