Denny Hamlin entered The Chase with a 25-point cushion over the second-place driver after the regular season. But the opening race at Darlington showed just how quickly that advantage can become complicated. Despite finishing 18th, Hamlin’s stage points helped him salvage a strong points haul, leaving several rivals who finished ahead of him losing ground. Now, NASCAR veteran Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi are highlighting a reality for anyone trying to catch the No. 11.

Bianchi was delivering a blunt assessment of Joey Logano’s championship strategy and Denny Hamlin’s advantage as the number one seed after the Cook Out Southern 500. Logano had entered Darlington knowing he needed consistent top-10 finishes and strong stage points to close the gap on Denny Hamlin.

“Not going to do it. Not going to get it done,” Jordan Bianchi said on The Teardown podcast.

On paper, he got the top-10 finish. In reality, it was nowhere near enough. Logano brought home ninth place in Sunday’s race, opening the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase. Yet despite finishing inside the top 10, Logano scored only 28 points on account of his Stage 3 results.

Hamlin, meanwhile, finished 18th and yet managed to score 35 points. That difference perfectly illustrated the challenge facing Logano and the rest of Hamlin’s championship rivals.

Hamlin’s night certainly did not go according to plan. The 45-year-old entered The Chase as the No. 1 seed with a massive 25-point advantage over the second-place driver.

The rest of the Chase field, meanwhile, has only a five-point advantage over the immediate driver (except the second and third place, where there is a ten-point gap). And Hamlin appeared to be building on that added cushion early at Darlington, finishing third in both Stage 1 and Stage 2.

Each result earned Hamlin eight points. That gave him 16 stage points before the final stage even began. But then things started going wrong. A slow pit stop dropped Hamlin back into traffic. On the restart, he was trying to fight his way forward when Michael McDowell hit him from behind coming off Turn 4.

Hamlin nearly spun into the outside wall. He, however, managed to gather it up as he headed toward Turn 1, but his difficult night continued as he went a lap down. Hamlin eventually finished the Cook Out Southern 500 in 18th place.

That should have opened the door for his rivals. Instead, his stage points helped him limit the damage.

Only seven Chase drivers gained points on Hamlin at Darlington. Christopher Bell gained 73 points after winning, while Tyler Reddick gained 46 in third. Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace each gained nine, with Chase Briscoe gaining eight and Kyle Larson gaining six.

Ty Gibbs gained just one point despite finishing second. Everyone else lost ground, including Logano and Ryan Preece, who both finished inside the top 10 (9th and 10th respectively). That is where Logano’s 28-point night becomes particularly important.

A ninth-place finish looked like it should have moved him closer to Hamlin. Instead, Logano lost seven points to the championship leader. Gluck pointed out just how strange that outcome would have sounded before The Chase began.

This is exactly how the stage points changed everything. In this Chase, a strong finish alone may not be enough. Drivers need to score throughout the race, because every stage point can become crucial when the championship standings tighten. The stage winner is awarded ten points, nine points for second, eight points for third, and so on till the tenth place.

For Logano, Darlington was a top-10 finish that felt like a missed opportunity as he didn’t win any stage points. For Hamlin, it was an 18th-place finish that somehow became a 35-point night.

And that could be the difference between chasing the championship and controlling it. As things stand, Logano remains 72 points behind.