Denny Hamlin’s playoff dreams took another gut punch at Kansas Speedway’s Hollywood Casino 400, and the frustration was raw. Leading off pit road on Lap 213, Hamlin had the No. 11 Toyota humming, holding off Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, and a pack of playoff heavyweights.

But by Lap 215, disaster loomed. “There is something wrong with the f****** steering. It’s sticking bad,” he radioed, his voice dripping with dread. “If I swerve, when I go to the right, it goes ‘click, click’ … I think it’s broke! F**k! Power steering.”

Without power steering, a must for Next Gen cars, Hamlin’s race was unraveling fast. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t f*ing believe it,” he vented, the weight of another playoff setback crashing down. Then came the gut-wrenching kicker: “Every year. Every. Year.”

For Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 champ still chasing that elusive Cup title, it’s a curse that stings. Kansas was a chance to climb from 11th in the standings, 23 points below the Round of 8 cut, but the steering rack failure, confirmed as a likely break, tanked his shot.

His crew tried to keep him steady: “Relax your hands and fingers down the frontstretch and backstretch when you can.” Hamlin’s response? “I’m trying.” The physical toll was clear as he battled the car, his team urging, “You’re doing great. You’re pulling away. You’ve got it.” But he could only grit out, “I’m trying,” under obvious strain.

With 25 laps to go, the fight’s getting brutal. Christopher Bell’s team hyped him up, “Still lots of room. Catching a lot of traffic here. He’s going to struggle in traffic. 22 more.” Hamlin held a one-second lead over Bell, with Wallace, Elliott, Briscoe, and Reddick in tow, all Toyotas except Elliott’s Chevrolet.

“Everything you got. Dig in here,” his crew pushed, but the steering issue made every lap a wrestling match. Bubba Wallace, running second, and others like Bell and Larson stayed in the hunt, but Hamlin’s day turned into damage control.

Lap 216, caution!

Just when it seemed Hamlin’s steering woes were the story, Lap 216 brought chaos. A massive crash erupted on the restart, sparing Hamlin but ensnaring playoff contenders Joey Logano and Austin Cindric, plus a slew of non-playoff drivers.

Noah Gragson triggered the mess, clipping Cindric and Logano right past the start-finish line, setting off a multi-car spin-fest. No one took heavy damage, but tires smoked as cars slid. Cindric, with visible damage, limped to pit road for repairs, while Logano escaped with minor scrapes.

Hamlin, wrestling his broken steering, dodged the bullet. The caution gave him a breather and a chance to fight on. Fans on X buzzed, torn between Hamlin’s grit and the playoff shake-up, as the curse tightened its grip.