Denny Hamlin may have just taken a one-point lead over Tyler Reddick after Sonoma, but there was potential to pick up a lot more points had the Joe Gibbs Racing driver not fallen prey to an unfortunate spin.

On lap 64 of 110, Hamlin was seventh going into the turn 7 right-hander. With all the cars bunched in, Hamlin was moving into the turn when Carson Hocevar’s Spire came in a bit hot and nudged Hamlin’s rear to spin him around.

Though it was later confirmed that Hocevar wasn't at fault and he was also bumped from behind, Hamlin felt the Spire driver could have done slightly better. On Tuesday's episode of his "Actions Detrimental" podcast, Hamlin said:

"I think that it’s always very easy to blame the car directly behind you, and yes, Carson could have done a better job."

However, the three-time Daytona 500 winner did emphasize that he didn't see any bad intent from Hocevar, adding:

"But I don’t think that he came into the corner with reckless abandonment."

The spin had damaged Denny Hamlin's car, which later required repairs on pit road, and eventually led to a 26th-place finish. Fortunately for him, his championship rival, Tyler Reddick, had a worse day.

The 23XI driver had a mechanical issue that led him to finish last and four laps down. Hamlin also said that had Reddick had a better day, his reaction to the incident may have been different, but it’s an incident he has to take on the chin and move on.

Denny Hamlin wary of a chasing Ryan Blaney

While he’s ready to move on from the incident in Sonoma that ruined a race where his car felt good, the championship leader is not ready to rest on his laurels. With one eye on Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin is also looking further down the leaderboard, expecting a massive fight to the end of the regular season.

Hamlin took about six races to cut down an over 100-point deficit to Reddick, and he believes there is someone who could do the same to him. On Actions Detrimental, Hamlin said:

"In the end, we’re racing for points, and the person that right now I’m in a battle with, let’s not sleep on Ryan Blaney. He’s only 100 back now. I closed my gap in six races. There’s eight left. He’s going to have to go on a major run."

In his 21st season, Hamlin knows exactly what momentum can do to a driver. And with a few superspeedways coming up, tracks where Blaney can extract the most out of his No. 12 Team Penske Ford, Hamlin knows what the 2023 Cup champion can bring to the points battle.

After 18 races, Blaney is third with 615 points, 104 points behind Hamlin’s tally. The leading Ford driver finished sixth with 32 points in Sonoma and has momentum and consistency behind him going into the remaining oval races, starting with Chicagoland this weekend. 

Do you think Denny Hamlin needs to worry about Ryan Blaney's threat? Let us know in the comments. 

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Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Yash Kotak