Denny Hamlin Doubts Rick Hendrick & Co. After Darlington Fallout, Sides With Penske for Gateway Survival Test

Darlington doesn’t play fair, and its nickname, ‘The Lady in Black,’ sticks for a reason. This year, Chase Briscoe cemented his dominance with a sweep and locked his ticket to the next round, while established favorites like Joey Logano and Alex Bowman found themselves staring up at the cut line. Meanwhile, desperation started humming under the hood for some drivers. And now, Denny Hamlin, who is sitting comfortably in second, has offered his verdict on how the big teams of NASCAR will perform.

The playoff picture after Darlington already has a pulse. Chase Briscoe’s Southern 500 domination didn’t just put him in the points lead; it set the tone for the Round of 16. Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and a pack of heavy hitters are chasing, but the danger zone is crowded. Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, and Josh Berry all sit below the cut, with Shane van Gisbergen barely clinging to safety. It is only one race into the round, and already it feels like a tense game of musical chairs where someone big is bound to get left out. But Denny Hamlin, ever the analyst, has his doubts about Mr. H’s team.

Speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin didn’t hold back while staking his claim on which drivers would emerge above the playoff cutline. He said, “I think Logano does. I mean, Berry’s part of the same family of Penskes that have been very good at that flat track. Bowman at 19… I don’t know, I just—you’re gonna have to show me more speed. And certainly, I just feel like it’s not a great track for Hendrick. Now, I could—again, this team is not just sitting around saying, ‘Oh, darn, this is one of our crappy tracks, I hope we do well.’ They’re working hard on it, so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of speed they bring.”

For Hendrick Motorsports, Darlington was less of a playoff luck and more of a hard reset. The powerhouse quartet collectively misfired; Chase Elliott limped home 17th, Kyle Larson trailed in at 19th, William Byron slipped to 21st, and Alex Bowman’s rough night ended 31st after pit road trouble. It’s not just a bad day; it was arguably their worst collective showing under the unified four-car format. And with no Hendrick Gateway win yet in the Cup era, they will need to create some St. Louis magic from scratch if they want to rebound. However, Hamlin is backing up Team Penske big time.

Talking about the drivers sitting below the cutline, Denny Hamlin added, “That’s a tough group. You know, the Cindric-Bell-Elliott is one that you think, ‘OK, there’s three of the top ten.’ You know, if you’re just kind of playing the race out naturally, yeah, maybe you can take advantage of SVG here at this track, but… I mean, you have to—you have to do it by a lot—and then overtake Logano while you’re at it.”

Team Penske quietly went about its business at Darlington. Austin Cindric led the clan with the 12th-place finish, Ryan Blaney crossed the line in 18th, and Joey Logano wound up 20th. The results won’t make headlines, but there was more under the hood than the box score shows. Cindric’s No. 2 stayed steady on the long runs, Blaney’s No. 12 had a balance that came alive late, and even Logano’s crew saw glimpses of a package that could translate to a track gateway. Penske’s debrief read less like damage control and more like a team that gives off contender energy. And with SVG’s kryptonite being oval tracks, Hamlin is certain that one of the Penske drivers will fight tooth and nail for a safer position within the playoff list.

And Hamlin’s choice is obviously backed up by a Gateway confidence booster, where Joey Logano has already planted a flag there. He won the track’s inaugural cup series in 2022, outdueling Kyle Busch in overtime with that signature elbows-out aggression. That win wasn’t a fluke; it was peak Penske execution, and it is the kind of history that could feel confident heading into the weekend.

Momentum is also on Ryan Blaney’s side after he closed the regular season with a photo-finish win at Daytona, snatching victory in a four-wide drag race.

But amid Hendrick’s horror-filled Darlington run and Penske’s speed, Denny Hamlin stays loyal to his own pack. And after Chase Briscoe’s magnificent win at Darlington, Hamlin isn’t holding back on the scope of making the Championship 4.

Denny Hamlin backs his own Joe Gibbs Racing team and teammate in the title hunt

Hamlin isn’t shy about where he stands on teammate Chase Briscoe’s championship prospects. Briscoe, who opened the playoffs with a statement win at Darlington, has been nothing short of impressive in his debut season with Joe Gibbs Racing as the No. 19 driver. With 2 wins and 11 top-five finishes already in the books, Briscoe has comfortably locked himself into the Round of 12. While JGR’s newest pairing may have entered the year with underdog whispers trailing them, Hamlin has long since dropped that label.

On the latest Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin was asked if Briscoe is a legitimate threat to make the Championship 4 this season. His answer left no room for doubt. He said, “I do. I think that they have all the tools available to them. Chase Briscoe is certainly capable enough so I don’t think it’s necessarily a sleeper team anymore. I think this is a team that certainly you could look at and say, ‘It’s one of the upper echelon.’ Add it to the top four or five that have been fastest all year. You could probably add that onto that.” 

He also pointed out Briscoe’s Darlington dominance as proof of this potential. The No. 19 team turned a modest practice pace into a race day clinic, leading more than 300 laps after overnight adjustments to the car. Even as the pole sitter himself, Hamlin could only watch as Briscoe, starting right behind him, powered past to take the win. As the NASCAR garage now shifts focus to Gateway for the Round of 12, the spotlight will be firmly fixed on Joe Gibbs Racing’s veteran-rookie combination, with plenty of speculation over whether they can punch their ticket to the Championship 4.