Denny Hamlin gives his view on Bubba Wallace’s chance at making the playoffs

With the regular season winding down, Denny Hamlin has to put on his driver hat and his owner hat with 23XI Racing and Bubba Wallace. Tyler Reddick is comfortably in the NASCAR Playoffs. Now the goal is to get the 23 to the postseason however they have to do it. Whether that is a win or points, they are focused on getting the job done.

For Denny Hamlin, it’s hard to say his driver won’t make the playoffs. He is a realist though. Wallace hasn’t broken through yet, although he’s had the best season of his Cup Series career this year. He’s had chances to run well and compete for wins. Now he has to make the most of his chances as the regular season closes out.

“Well I mean, I think you always, especially with the race tracks that layout,” Hamlin said, via Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports. “With Daytona, to be safe, you always need to plan on a new winner. So, that moves the bubble one more spot. Then he’s, you know, where Allmendinger is, 13 [points] behind or something. Sure, if he gets enough points then I think he’s going to be in good shape. He’s got enough guys right there in front of him that he could overtake and still have a new winner. But they go to the race track every week to win.”

When it comes down to it, drivers have to take fast cars and do the most with them. THe team has given him a fast car, now he has to make the most of his Magic Mile opportunity.

“The cars are fast,” Hamlin continued. “Especially this weekend all the Toyotas are fast. You take every opportunity that your cars are fast, this should be one of them.”

Denny Hamlin will have work to do in New Hampshire

While Bubba Wallace qualified P8, the bossman didn’t do so well. Saturday showed that Toyota still has speed at the Magic Mile, and the Fords might have found something special to close out the year.

When it was all said and done, Denny Hamlin qualified P20. He will have a tough task ahead of him as he tries to move up the field and get another top-10 finish on the season. With how well the other Toyotas performed, it is strange that Hamlin is the one that struggled on this track in particular. He does have three wins on the mile-long oval.

Hamlin was the fifth-best Toyota out of six. Only Ty Gibbs performed worse in qualifying. Gibbs seemed to have an issue of sorts in qualifying and pulled up on his lap to avoid crashing.

Denny Hamlin is in the playoffs, but he needs to get back to his stronger performances. If he wants to compete for a championship, the intensity level has to ramp up and he has to ring off top-5 finishes and wins again.

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