CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As one of two drivers who previously competed in the Chase, it would be easy for Denny Hamlin to say that he has an advantage. After all, he's experienced the 10-race format that determined the champion.
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Yet, he believes that the experience with the high-pressure situations between 2006-13 matter far less as he heads to Darlington Raceway, a track where he has celebrated five Cup Series wins.
"It is a little different this time around because we have stages and we have more points for winning than the last time we had the Chase," Hamlin said in response to FanBuzz.
"I do think that there's an opportunity for drivers to make up more points than we had in the past. So, generally, I don't know that my tenure and experience is necessarily an advantage other than when we see when we go from track to track. I've just got a lot of starts at each one of these tracks."
Hamlin has a point. He's competed full time in the Cup Series since 2006, and he's won 64 races. He's completed more than 20,000 laps at the various tracks on the schedule. This includes thousands of laps at the final 10 tracks on the 2026 schedule.
The Chase consists of Darlington, Gateway, Bristol, Kansas, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Phoenix, Talladega, Martinsville, and Homestead. Hamlin has made a combined 315 Cup Series starts at this track while winning 31 times.
There is not a single track in the Chase where Hamlin has not won a race. This includes Gateway, where he has one win in four starts.
#NASCAR - Denny Hamlin has far more experience with the Chase than his competitors, but he doesn't view that as an advantage.
What helps more is the number of laps he's run at the remaining 10 tracks. pic.twitter.com/lr1NhJarHr— John Newby (@JohnNewby_) September 2, 2026
So with Hamlin's experience and a 25-point advantage due to being the No. 1 seed, it would appear that he is the overwhelming favorite to win his first Cup Series championship.
He's been the favorite in past seasons, but something usually happened to take him out of contention. This held especially true in the elimination format era when one race — and a late caution — determined the season champion.
Last season serves as a particularly painful example as Hamlin had a dominant lead before William Byron brought out the caution and sent the race to overtime. Hamlin's team took four tires on the ensuing pit stop while Kyle Larson and several other drivers took two.
Larson went on to finish third in the race but first among the Championship 4 drivers. He won his second title despite failing to win a race in the playoffs.
The return of the Chase format, albeit with more available points, presents Hamlin with what he believes to be his best opportunity to check off that career-long goal.
He and the No. 11 team have four wins this season and an average finish of 8.2. This is by far the best mark of any Cup Series driver this season.
Now, he can take that consistency and attack a format that rewards running well for weeks in a row instead of just one afternoon.
"There's been years where we've been really fast versus the field, things like that, but I've always known it's about that one race, and are you good at that one racetrack on a green-white-checkered finish, right," Hamlin said.
"I think that it's a little different this time around, so I'm starting a little bit ahead, not as much ahead as I should be. But I'm a little bit ahead and I've got enough races to prove that we're the best."
