{"id":479923,"date":"2026-02-17T05:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T05:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479923\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T05:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T05:31:08","slug":"denny-hamlin-reflects-on-2025-nascar-championship-heartbreak-makes-bold-prediction-for-chase-format","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479923\/","title":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin reflects on 2025 NASCAR championship heartbreak, makes bold prediction for Chase format"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denny Hamlin still can\u2019t believe he lost the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship after how he performed in the final race. On the Actions Detrimental podcast<\/a>, Hamlin reflected on losing the title to Kyle Larson on the final lap. <\/p>\n

\u201cNovember burned for me personally,\u201d Denny Hamlin said. \u201cThat didn\u2019t have anything to do with the format, but it was just a microcosm of our playoff format. It was, \u2018Oh wait a minute, this doesn\u2019t feel right.\u2019 You should not leave the championship event in racing, baseball, or football, saying, \u201cUh, I don\u2019t know. Something didn\u2019t seem right about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamlin then shared some tidbits on the championship race that made things more frustrating for him. \u201cWe actually scored more points than Kyle Larson in that event,\u201d Hamlin stated. \u201cWhat I couldn\u2019t believe when I saw it is that the race was 312 laps, we\u2019re in front of [Larson] for 312 laps. Not one lap was he ahead of us until the overtime finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happened with Hamlin last year is one reason why NASCAR changed its championship format for this season and beyond. Once the first 26 races are over, the top 16 drivers in the standings will compete in a 10-race Chase. Whoever is on top of the Chase standings after the 10 races will win the title. <\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin knows where he needs to be at the end of the regular season<\/p>\n

And with the change, Hamlin has a prediction for this year\u2019s Chase. \u201cWhoever the champion is going to be is going to finish in the top three of the regular season,\u201d he said. That\u2019s who the champion will be in the top three.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamlin then explained that the regular-season champion will get a big head start in the Chase. \u201cHe earned it. Whoever it is, they earned it,\u201d Hamlin added. If they clinch a week early, they f***ing earned it. Leave him alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamlin is not off to the best start in the 2026 season, finishing 31st in the Daytona 500 <\/a>on Sunday. The good news is that he has time to bounce back and get into the top 16 of the standings since 25 races are remaining in the regular season.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Hamlin left Daytona a winner, as Tyler Reddick won the race. Reddick drives for 23XI Racing, a team Hamlin co-owns with Michael Jordan<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin still can\u2019t believe he lost the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship after how he performed in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,3932,634,82],"class_list":["post-479923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-denny-hamlin","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}