Denny Hamlin missed an opportunity to regain ground on points leader Kyle Larson with a 16th-place result in the 2026 South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 4.
The three-time Daytona 500 champion from Chesterfield, Virginia, commenced his weekend at Vegas by securing his 53rd Cup Series career pole position and his fifth of the 2026 season a day prior to the main event. Once he took the green flag from pole position, he dominated by leading the first 34 laps before he made a scheduled pit stop under green a lap after. Hamlin would cycle his way back to the lead just before a caution for Zane Smith spinning in the fourth turn flew. During the caution period, split strategies ensued as Hamlin was among a handful of competitors who opted to return to pit road for service while teammates Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell remained on the track.
Despite restarting in 10th place for the next restart on Lap 49, Hamlin marched his way back towards the front and got up as high as fourth place as the laps in the first stage period dwindled. Then with three laps remaining in the stage period, Hamlin, who was trying to reel in teammate Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney for podium spots, got sideways while running towards the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4. This caused Hamlin to spin his No. 11 National Debt Relief/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE entry from the top to the bottom of the track as he came to a 360-sliding halt towards the entrance of pit road. With the event remaining under green flag conditions, Hamlin managed to proceed, but missed out on securing critical stage points from the first stage period as he ended up in 28th place.
Restarting in 23rd place for the second stage’s start on Lap 87, Hamlin navigated his way up within the top-15 mark at the Lap 100 mark before he dropped to 20th place 10 laps later. With the front splitter of Hamlin’s entry being damaged from his spin, the Virginia native could not march his way further forward as he settled in 14th place when the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, thus missing out on notching stage points for a second consecutive stage period.
Following the pit stops during the second stage period, Hamlin was poised to line up just outside the top-10 mark for the start of the third and final stage period. He, however, endured fuel pressure issues that caused him to fall off the pace during the caution period and drop back to 24th place. For the event’s remainder, Hamlin primarily raced within the top-20 mark before he took the checkered flag in 16th place for his second-lowest result through the first five Chase events of the 2026 Cup Series season.
Prior to Las Vegas, Hamlin, who emphasized the importance and needing to win to maintain his championship hopes a week ago at Kansas Speedway, trailed points leader Kyle Larson from the runner-up spot by 26 points. After Las Vegas and with Kyle Larson rallying to finish in second place, Hamlin’s deficit to the latter increased to 40.
“I guess there was marbles up there [when I spun],” Hamlin said on USA Sports. “[I was] Just trying to get back to track position that we lost. [I] Just went up there and gotten the marbles and spun out. Obviously, damaged the car to where it was nothing like it was before. There’s nothing you can do now post race. You just got to go on to the next race and see if you can find a way to win. Charlotte will be good for us, but today certainly didn’t live up to what we expected.”
With Las Vegas in the rearview mirror, Denny Hamlin shifts his focus to the next Chase event, which is the Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. In 35 previous starts at Charlotte, Hamlin holds a single victory, which occurred in the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 event in May 2022. His best result at the venue in the fall is a runner-up result from the 2012 season as he strives to rally and regain the points ground lost to Larson while remaining in contention for his first Cup Series championship.
The 2026 Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur next Sunday, October 11, at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
