Denny Hamlin left Phoenix Raceway fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series Chase standings, 31 points behind leader Kyle Larson. His crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing, Chris Gayle, says the title fight is not finished.
Jeff Gluck, who covers motorsports for The Athletic, shared Gayle’s comments on X after Sunday’s race.
Chris Gayle comments after Phoenix pic.twitter.com/jpk2LAOU9u
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) October 18, 2026
“It all plays out in the next three. It’ll play out. But it’s not over,” Gayle said. “Like those guys could have trouble. You could have the 19, the 5 and the 20 all have trouble in Talladega, and we’re right back in this.”
Gayle said that is how the No. 11 team has to view the final three races. “So that’s the only way you can look at it,” he said.
The cars Gayle named belong to the three drivers ahead of Hamlin. Chase Briscoe drives the No. 19, Larson drives the No. 5 and Christopher Bell drives the No. 20.
Bell is second, five points behind Larson. Briscoe is third, 24 points back, according to MotorBiscuit’s standings update.
Phoenix started well for Hamlin. He finished second in Stage 1 and eighth in Stage 2, and he was running in the top five in the final stage.
Then a right-rear tire went down while he ran fourth, and he pitted under green on Lap 221. He sped on pit road entry during that stop. The penalty made him ineligible for the free pass when the caution came out for Cody Ware’s crash.
Hamlin finished 28th, as MotorBiscuit reported. Larson had a worse afternoon. A right-front tire failure sent him into the wall in the final stage, and he finished 34th with three points.
Larson’s three-point day let Hamlin gain 18 points despite his own trouble. Larson’s lead over Hamlin had been 49 points coming into Phoenix.
Hamlin said after the race that one win would put him back in position.
“It’s doable. Just one win, it’s doable. So, I mean, one win, we’re right there,” Hamlin said.
Asked how he will approach Talladega, Hamlin said, “I don’t know. I’m not there yet.”
The Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway for the YellaWood 500 on Sunday, Oct. 25. The 2.66-mile track is known for pack racing and multicar crashes.
The spring race there showed how quickly one crash can hurt contenders. A 26-car crash on Lap 115 collected Larson and Ryan Blaney. Larson finished 40th, and Blaney finished 37th.
Blaney is now fifth in the Chase standings, 40 points behind Larson.
Hamlin finished 15th in that race, which Carson Hocevar won for his first Cup Series victory.
Hamlin has won at Talladega twice. He won the spring race in 2014 when a caution came out on the final lap. He also won the October 2020 race in overtime, beating Matt DiBenedetto to the line before DiBenedetto was penalized for a yellow-line violation.
Martinsville Speedway follows Talladega on Nov. 1. The season ends Nov. 8 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where the champion will be the driver with the most points.