“Big Old Crash!” Denny Hamlin Predicts Chaos this Week at Talladega

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series chase is just three more races away from crowning the champion and with the top-6 being separated by just 44 points, it’s anyone’s title to win. This week’s race at the iconic Talladega Superspeedway is going to the event that is going to separate the top-3 contenders from the rest, as the chaos would end the dreams of some major challengers.

Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin, who is currently P4 in the table, talked about the potential chaos fans can expect on his Actions Detrimental podcast. His and everyone else plan for the week is to go all out in all three stages and the No:11 Toyota driver believes there will be some big wrecks towards the end of the stages because of this.  

There is no game plan. The game plan is to go out there and try to run as far up front as I possibly can. If we crash, we crash, and hopefully the other six guys are with me. And I suspect there will be. I think that all these guys are gonna end up fighting for stage points, and more than likely, I would think there’s gonna be crash at the end of the stages.

Denny Hamlin said on his podcast.

The veteran expects him and his fellow championship contenders to make some massive blocks towards the end of stages, that could lead to wild incidents. Denny Hamlin also highlighted how the drivers that are not in the championship contention would make the race more interesting as their only goal would be a race win. One driver that has an advantage among the top 6 at Talladega will be Kyle Larson, as he is the only Chevy driver in contention and OEM’s teams might protect him more.

So, like, I’m telling you that the blocks will be massive, and someone’s gonna make a bad one, and it’s gonna be a big old crash. And then you got, by the way, eight through 16, no, eight through 36 that don’t give two **** about points… I don’t know. We’ll see. Maybe. Who knows? It’s just so hard to predict, but you just don’t know. But Chevy, I’m sure, will get organized and tell all the pawns to fall in line.

Denny Hamlin added via Actions Detrimental.

Denny Hamlin wants a shorter NASCAR season

On his appearance on the Rubbin’ is Racing podcast, the No:11 Toyota Camry driver explained how challenging the 2026 season so far has been for him. The chase has demanded too much from him mentally and physically, making him really tired.

Man, this Chase in particular has like mentally worn me the f*ck down. It really has. And I think it’s because I raised the level of intensity that I have on myself, my work ethic. It’s even more intense. And I just get tired. I really do get tired.

Denny Hamlin said.

This challenge has inspired the veteran to advocate for a shorter Cup season like the Truck Series that only has 25 races. He believes the 36 races season is oversaturated and NASCAR needs to reduce the number to inflate the demand, like Formula One. One major challenge with the change is the potential revenue loss for the teams.

I mean, the trucks, what do they run like twenty or twenty-five? I mean, ***** it’s a great number. And I just think there’s something to the oversaturation of the sport. I really believe it. If I ran it and I owned it, it would be a tough thing to swallow, to be willing to reduce my overall revenue and shrink it. But I truly believe that you’ve got to make the people miss it.

Denny Hamlin added.

Oversaturation is a major issue NASCAR is facing at the moment and he is right to ask for a shorter season with breaks in-between weeks, which would help to increase demand and provide more opportunities for storytelling. It would be interesting if the sports leadership will ever make this change to its schedule.

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