October 7, 2024

Denny Hamlin finished 10th during Sunday's YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway despite some setbacks putting a solid finish in doubt. Starting from the eighth position in the first stage, the first setback for Hamlin would begin on lap three as he was bumped out of the pack after going four-wide for position and fell back to 39th. After catching up with the pack during the race's first caution of lap 13, Hamlin made it back up to 23rd and failed to score stage points. During the race's second stage, Hamlin would keep his car clean even through green flag pit stops until the last lap of the stage when he was collected in a wreck with Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, and a few others. Despite the damage, Hamlin failed to score stage points once again as he ended up in 16th. During the final stage, Hamlin rode around in the back of the pack until the race's biggest crash on lap 184, and unlike most drivers, Hamlin avoided it and received no further damage to his car. As a result, Hamlin went on to obtain his 17th career top-10 finish at Talladega and his best superspeedway finish of the season. Hamlin now holds a 30-point advantage over the playoff cut line for the next round heading to an unfavorable track, the Charlotte Roval, where he has only one top-10 finish in six starts.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com