Denny Hamlin drops bold playoff prediction, names four drivers he sees out in round one

With less than a week to go till the playoffs kick off at Darlington Raceway, Denny Hamlin named four drivers he thinks will be eliminated in the first round. It all happened during the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast on Dirty Mo Media.

Denny Hamlin is also in the playoffs, alongside his teammates Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell. Notably, Ty Gibbs is the only driver from the Joe Gibbs Racing camp who did not make the postseason this year.

“I'll say (Austin) Dillon, (Josh) Berry, (Austin) Cindric, and SVG (Shane van Gisbergen). Versus the guys like the Bowmans, the Reddicks, Loganos, Chastain, Bubba (Wallace), I think they all overtake, just on speed. I don't know if it's a wild prediction or not, but my first four out: SVG, Cindric, Berry, Dillon.” (33:20 onwards)

The inaugural race of the Round of 16 will be held at Darlington Raceway this coming Sunday, August 31. The second and the last races of the segment will be held at World Wide Technology Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway on September 7 and 13, respectively.

Like every year, the points have been reset already, and Denny Hamlin sits third in the driver standings, 23 points above the cutoff line. Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson is currently atop the leaderboard, followed by his teammate William Byron.

Named the Cook Out Southern 500, this weekend’s race will be televised on USA (6 pm ET). Fans can listen to its live radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio as well.

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Denny Hamlin calls out his 23XI driver for initiating the “big one” at Daytona

Denny Hamlin said that it was Bubba Wallace, driver of the No. 23 for 23XI Racing (which Hamlin co-owns), who triggered the multi-car pileup last Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. That being said, Hamlin wasn’t sure if it was the spotter or the driver who was to blame.

“It looked like to me that Bubba just squeezed those two guys below him down,” Denny Hamlin explained on his podcast. “You could just see that they’re there, two cars on the inside.”

“I don’t know what Freddie (Kraft, Wallace’s spotter) was calling. Maybe he was saying three wide top or not — I’m not sure, but he just squeezed on down there, and there was no room. So he ended up wrecking himself, and obviously a few others,” Hamlin further noted.

The wreck took down several drivers, including former NASCAR Cup Series champions Joey Logano and Kyle Busch. Hamlin himself was also involved in the mess.

Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney won the race. The top five spots were rounded off by Daniel Suárez, Justin Haley, Cole Custer, and Erik Jones. Since there wasn’t a new winner, Alex Bowman clinched the final playoff spot on points.