Denny Hamlin Needs a Miracle After Petty Calls His Race “Disappointing

Denny Hamlin needs a miracle to win the championship, and he knows it.

Richard Petty called Hamlin’s Martinsville race “really disappointing” after the polesitter finished sixth and gained only three points on Kyle Larson.

“I figured if Denny was ever going to show anything, it was going to be at Martinsville,” Petty said on the Petty Racing Recap.

“When he started on pole, I said, ‘Okay, they’ve got their stuff together, and the 5 car is going to be hard-pressed to gain any points on it.'”

Petty’s verdict was short: “That was really disappointing.”

Hamlin now sits third in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, 70 points behind Larson with only Homestead-Miami Speedway left.

The numbers required for a championship change are stark.

Hamlin would need to win the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

He must also secure 17 out of the 20 available stage points.

If he earns the point for the fastest lap, the target drops to 16 stage points.

Even with this perfect performance, Larson must finish 29th or worse and earn no stage points.

Hamlin knows this gap is too wide.

“We just didn’t gain enough to make it realistic,” Hamlin said on USA Sports after his sixth-place finish at Martinsville.

He entered the season finale in this position after a frustrating race where he believed he had a car capable of winning.

He won the pole on Saturday but could not convert it into the necessary result on Sunday.

The gap to Larson is simply too large to close with normal racing.

Hamlin admits the situation is painful.

When asked if he still looked at the final three races as an opportunity to win a title, Hamlin told reporters: “It’s pretty miserable for sure.”

Hamlin looks worn out because he is.

The 46-year-old turned 47 in a couple of weeks and has faced a difficult 2025-26 offseason.

His 23XI Racing team sued NASCAR in a tense trial.

His terminally ill father died in a house fire.

While sifting through the rubble of his parents’ home, Hamlin re-injured his right shoulder rotator cuff.

He had surgery on this same shoulder after the 2023 season.

He might try to avoid another surgery until after the 2027 season.

Hamlin said at a news conference Saturday at Martinsville: “I don’t have [surgery] scheduled right now.”

“The plan was to scan right after the season to kind of see where it stood.”

He noted that pain tolerance has been okay so far.

“Obviously, it’s late in the season — everything just gets a little worse,” he said, according to Fox Sports.

“But generally, I’ve been able to manage it inside the race car.”

Hamlin plans to see if the injury has progressed after the season.

He hopes to nurse it for one more year.

“Maybe if I can nurse it, just for one more year and then do it after that,” he said.

He has already stated that he expects the 2027 Cup season to be his last.

The Martinsville race itself was a series of misfortunes.

Hamlin and Larson both stayed out in Stage 1 while much of the field pitted under green.

They lost track position, no caution came before the end of the stage, and neither driver scored Stage 1 points.

Steve Letarte, a former Cup crew chief, and Jamie McMurray, a former Daytona 500 winner, both now work in motorsports television.

They broke down the call on NASCAR’s Inside the Race.

Letarte pointed to race winner William Byron, who pitted and took control.

“The most successful, the pitting group, William Byron pitted, drove up, won the first stage, never looked back, controlled the race, the rest,” Letarte said.

“The other side, the 11 of Denny Hamlin, got passed by the 60, and then that 11 car fell off the cliff.

So now, wrong strategy with a car that was not good on that long run,” he added.

McMurray said the long run is usually a strength for Hamlin’s team.

“The thing that has played into the 11’s advantage a lot of times is that they’re exceptional in the long run,” McMurray said.

He added that “at a place like Martinsville, where it’s this little small racetrack, when you lose drive or rear grip, you’re just out to lunch and you can get lapped and lose track position so fast.”

Hamlin also spun with teammate Christopher Bell after contact from Joey Logano on Lap 216.

He recovered to finish sixth, three spots ahead of Larson.

After the race, Hamlin spoke with Logano about the incident.

On Tuesday’s episode of his “Actions Detrimental” podcast alongside Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hamlin revealed that he had asked Logano why he tried to force his way into a three-wide situation.