​NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Media Day Feb 15, 2023 Daytona Beach, Florida, USA NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin 11 talks with the press during media day at Daytona International Speedway. Daytona Beach Daytona International Speedway Florida USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xJohnxDavidxMercerx 20230215_jdm_sx1_098 ©IMAGO/USA TODAY NetworkDenny Hamlin has seen enough. Leading the Cup Series by 68 points with four wins, he has spent most of 2026 at the front while everyone else figures out how to catch up. With five races left before the Chase begins, the drivers on the outside of the top 16 are running out of road. On Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin went through each of them. He did not take long.“The field is the field.”It was his verdict. It was directed at Ross Chastain first. Denny Hamlin has gone back and forth on him all year, always thinking there was something there, never quite seeing it show up.“I just keep thinking there’s enough there, but there just isn’t. There’s not enough time, not enough speed in the car. I just don’t think he’s going to make it.”Chastain is 45 points below the cutline. That is not a gap you close in five races without something going very right and very wrong for someone ahead of you. Michael McDowell was next.“That’s been one of the more disappointing teams this year. They’ve been okay, but it just feels like they should be better than where they are.”Spire Motorsports had real momentum after McDowell’s runner-up at Watkins Glen. It never turned into anything consistent. He sits 32 points out in 18th. Then Brad Keselowski. Hamlin asked how far back he was. 58 points.Hamlin pointed out the problem is not just the points gap. It is who is standing in the way. Logano, Cindric, van Gisbergen, and Bubba Wallace are the four drivers right on that bubble.Climbing through that group, with five races left, while 58 points back? The math does not work.Hamlin’s verdicts sit differently this year because the format makes them stick. NASCAR got rid of the old elimination bracket and brought back The Chase, a straight 10-race points battle from Darlington to Homestead. No knockout rounds. All 16 drivers stay in until the last lap of the last race. Whoever has the most points when it ends wins the title.Getting in still takes work. The top 16 in regular season points lock in. After that, points reset. The leader starts at 2,100, and each position down loses five points, bottoming out at 2,000 for the 16th seed.Winning races got more valuable, too. A win now pays 55 points versus 40 before, with second place falling to 35. That 20-point gap between first and second is the biggest it has ever been.But here is the thing. There are no automatic bids anymore. A win during the regular season does not punch your ticket in. You still have to be in the top 16 on points. That means the only way through is to out-score everyone else, week after week.That is the world Chas