“I’m Officially Off!” Denny Hamlin Rules out Ross Chastain and Brad Keselowski from Chase Conversations

There are just five more races left in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season and the final-16 line up is almost confirmed. There are going to some major upsets for the playoffs, as some big and well-established names, mostly from the Chevy garage, has struggled to make a mark so far in the season.

Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin shared his thoughts the potential big names that could might miss out on his podcast and the first on his list was Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain. The season so far has been a nightmare for him, as other than a P3 finish at the first race at Atlanta he hasn’t showed any signs of a fight.

By the way, I’m officially off the Ross Chastain [bandwagon to make The Chase]. I just keep thinking that there’s enough there, but there’s just not enough there.  Not enough time, not enough car, just not gonna make it.

Denny Hamlin said on his podcast.

The next one on the list of Denny Hamlin are Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell, who has really struggled this year unlike teammates Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suarez, who are race winners. He also doesn’t expect RFK Racing owner driver Brad Keselowski to make up the 58 points deficits with just a handful races in the season.

McDowell, no. That’s been one of the underperforming teams that I’ve been disappointed with this year. They’ve been okay, but it just seems like they should be better than where they’re at right now. So, McDowell, I’m gonna say, no. Keselowski is how far back? Yeah, 58 back. Keselowski, I’ll say no.

Denny Hamlin added via Actions Detrimental.

One driver that the 23XI Racing co-owner sees making into the last-16 is Team Penske Racing’ Austin Cindric. He is currently sitting P16 in the table and has been averaging around P16 thought out the season. The No:11 JGR driver expects that the No:2 to remain on the same level, as his car is good enough be the best among the midfield drivers.

If someone goes and blows a motor, wrecks, that changes everything, and that will happen. I just think these guys are separating themselves. Cindric is just Cindric-ing, and these guys can’t catch him. He’s putting himself in the teens most weeks, and that’s good enough. He’s getting what his car is giving him.

Denny Hamlin asserted.

Denny Hamlin wants NASCAR to return to North Wilkesboro

In the same podcast, Hamlin also talked about the future of North Wilkesboro and highlighted that he wants to track to return to the schedule in 2027. He highlighted that the track reminds him a lot about Bristol Motor Speedway, as the drivers have multiple lanes to race around.

I don’t know. I mean, I’m for a race at North Wilkesboro, how about that? That’s where I’ll stand on it…It’s a racey track. It reminds me a lot of Bristol. When they changed Bristol from its one groove track and then they re-concreted it, put variable banking, they ground it — next thing you know, we were racing all around Bristol from the bottom to the top.

Denny Hamlin said.

The comments from the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran are on point and seems to be something the majority of the community would agree on him with.  It would be interesting to see who everything is going to playout for the track in the coming years.

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