What is the one factor that decides the season?s champion? Talent, experience, and perhaps a championship-winning team. Denny Hamlin had all three working in his favor until the Round of 8 playoffs. For the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, it unfortunately boiled down to one technical mishap at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Even when the #11 driver personally played all his cards well, the season?s title eluded Hamlin. NBC analyst Steve Letarte was not, however, in favor of shirking the blame on misfortunes.?

HMS Insider knows Denny Hamlin was good enough to make the Championship 4?

Although Christopher Bell kept JGR?s championship hopes alive, it was Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr who emerged triumphant in the regular season. The #19 team of Truex Jr failed to regain their earlier momentum, but Hamlin?s #11 team only soared higher once the playoffs began. After the first race, Hamlin scored four back-to-back Top 5 finishes, including his sensational victory at Bristol Motor Speedway. After another Top 10 finish in Las Vegas, the #11 driver sought a Championship 4 entry in Homestead.

Although Hamlin qualified outside the Top 10, the prolific racer quickly made his way inside the Top 10 in Stage 1 and finished in the Top 5 in Stage 2. While battling for the lead in the final stage, the JGR driver suddenly collided with the outside wall, effectively ending his race and his season in one sweep. Despite another Top 5 finish in Martinsville, Hamlin could not recover from the points loss due to what he claimed was a steering issue. Looking back at the #11 driver?s season, Steve Letarte declared, ?The steering thing-listen, I hate excuses?

The 4EVER 400 race, named in Kevin Harvick?s honor, entirely changed the course of Hamlin?s playoff run. If not for it, the #11 driver would have qualified over William Byron just by virtue of the points accumulated through his consistency. Even Letarte was forced to admit that in his podcast, Dirty Mo Dough with Steve Letarte. He said, ?I can?t come up with something else to keep Denny Hamlin out of the Championship 4 other than one mechanical issue at Miami. He was running good enough to do it.?

In the end, it was his teammate Bell, who won the race and qualified for the Championship 4 in Phoenix. But even the #20 driver could not finish the race and was eliminated early.?

Watch this story: Hamlin’s Revelation: A Twist in the 2024 Championship Tale

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NASCAR insider on Hamlin?s car and its championship abilities

With three strong contenders who lost steam when it counted the most, Joe Gibbs Racing will have to address multiple concerns in the off-season. Even though the team was possibly not at fault for whatever ailed Denny Hamlin?s Toyota Camaro, they had three chances in the Round of 8 to qualify, and they could not capitalize on them.

After Hamlin?s elimination, Jeff Burton said, ?Obviously you could have won. You could have gotten yourself in by winning a race. In my eyes, he [Hamlin] didn’t have a car good enough to win yesterday. They had a very good car but not as good as [Ryan] Blaney. They did not have in my eyes a winning car [in Martinsville] before they had the trouble at Homestead-Miami.?

Burton continued, ?The mechanical issue quite simply did put them out, and that is maybe something they had nothing to do with?I hate saying that because you have to control things, you have to make things happen. If you don’t, no one will, but there is luck involved in racing?But in their case, I think they can honestly look at themselves and say they brought a good fight to the playoffs?It just didn’t work out.??

Read More: This is Why Denny Hamlin is Still Championship-Less in the NASCAR Cup Series

The #11 driver still has ample fight left in him, and all of Joe Gibbs? aces will be back next year for another battle for the coveted trophy.