If close competition is what NASCAR promised with the introduction of the Next Gen cars last year, then it is exactly what it has delivered to fans this year. With only 10 races to go before the playoffs begin, it is all to play for. While much of it could be laid down to teams being well prepared in general, Denny Hamlin feels just the opposite way – he believes it has more to do with the drivers lacking consistency. Hamlin, who has one win and 3 top-5 finishes this year, opened up about this on his podcast, Actions Detrimental.
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The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has one win this season and is eighth in the standings, putting him in a great position to make the playoffs this season.
Denny Hamlin on why the drivers are so close in the standings
When asked about his take on the top 7 drivers in the points table being separated by just 33 points, Hamlin replied, “The reason it is because no one’s dominating it. People are doing things that I’m doing, like they’re having a good week and then they go finished 25th and a good week and they go finished 27th. Like there’s just been no consistency at the top of like consistent drivers putting in five-six weeks.”
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On whether he feels it is good for competition and himself, Hamlin replied, “It’s great for competition. I still feel like I’m in it. I still feel like, you know, with like with 70 positions worth of finishing over two weeks, like I still feel I’m in contention to get a very good regular season playoff standing, which is bonus points. So I love that it is inconsistent.”
How does the playoff picture look so far?
Kyle Busch and William Byron have three wins each, followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson with two wins. The real unpredictability is the battle among the drivers who are winless so far. Kevin Harvick, Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, and Alex Bowman are all winless so far and will be eager to notch up a win in the coming races.
Quite shockingly, 2020 champion Chase Elliott is also winless so far, in part due to missing six races at the beginning of the season because of injury. There is one factor that goes in Elliott’s favor though – seven of his 18 Cup series victories have come between the 16th and 26th races of the season and with three of the next five races at Nashville, Atlanta, and Pocono, races he won last year, it does indeed seem like a matter of when and not if Elliott gets a win and gets into the playoffs.
With the way the season has gone, it does indeed seem that the Next Gen car has been successful, atleast from the perspective of bringing the field closer.
