Hamlin's controversial move: Did he make the right call in NASCAR playoffs?

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — The first thing Denny Hamlin said when he climbed from his car after advancing into the third round of NASCAR's playoffs was he wish he'd known not to pass Ross Chastain on the final lap.

In racing Chastain for that position, it knocked Chastain out of the playoffs and gave the final spot in the round of eight to Joey Logano, the reigning Cup Series champion and winner of two of the last three titles.

In fact, Logano and Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney have combined to win the last three consecutive championships, so Hamlin was fiercely criticized for not taking Logano out of contention.

The third round begins Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with eight drivers remaining and all representing the top teams in NASCAR: Hamlin leads Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe into the round, while Penske has Logano and Blaney and Hendrick Motorsports is represented by Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and William Byron. The field comprises three drivers each from Chevrolet and Toyota and two from Ford.

Hamlin, Briscoe and Bell swept the first three spots Saturday in qualifying and Hamlin will lead the field to green in pursuit of his 60th career win and a slot in the title-deciding finale at Phoenix.

There's controversy surrounding the Hamlin and Chastain incident last Sunday in part because a year ago Logano was initially eliminated from the playoffs at Charlotte. He learned later that night he was back in the field when Bowman's car failed inspection, then Logano won Las Vegas a week later to lock up a spot in the championship-deciding finale.

“Denny, would have to ask himself, ‘What’s going to give me the best chance to win the championship?’ if that’s your number one goal. If that’s your main goal to do that, ‘What gives me the best chances to win the whole thing?’” Logano wondered. "Is one competitor tougher than the other? I don’t know. I don’t know if you want to race against either one of us. Ross has proven to do whatever it takes to get to the next round or to win. He’s done that multiple times. Do you want to race against him? I don’t know.

"Do you want to race against us? I don’t think so, either. You’re probably in a no-win situation, so you might as well just pass him and go and get a better spot.”

The entire situation is also being scrutinized by NASCAR, which said this week it would be carefully monitoring potentials of race manipulation over the final month of the season. NASCAR managing director of communications Mike Forde said on the series’ “Hauler Talk” podcast that series officials would have acted if it had heard Joe Gibbs Racing telling Hamlin not to pass Chastain.

“If we heard that radio transmission say, ‘Hey, (Chastain) needs this point to advance to the next round over (Logano)’ or something of that ilk, and all of a sudden, (Hamlin) let off the gas, that would probably raise a red flag on our side,” Forde said.

Hamlin believes that isn't right.

“I don't see any reason why I can't know what the point situation is,” Hamlin said Saturday. "I had no allegiance to either party, and so at that point, my question would be: ‘Do I have a right to choose my competitor?’

“I think the some of the sensitivity around this is obviously probably gambling focused, because I know that NASCAR is very, very sensitive, as they should be, with that to make sure everyone’s getting a fair shake,” Hamlin continued. “But on the race track, I feel as though, as long as you’re you don’t have a bias to one party or another... I don’t know why you can’t make the best decision for yourself. I’m more wondering, what is going to be allowed?”

The entire field of eight had the same question for NASCAR.

“It’s a slippery slope either way because where is the line? Is just telling somebody where you are in points and what’s going on around you, is that too far?" Logano said. "Saying straight-up what to do is probably too far. We can kind of understand that, but just saying what the point situation is, I don’t think that’s too far.

"I think just feeding someone data it still leaves it in the driver’s hands to do what they please with it. It’s just giving information. That’s all you’re doing.”

The warning on avoiding race manipulation came from attention it received last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and Forde said series officials had reviewed the late-race radio transmissions of Alex Bowman and Cole Custer because of social media debated over some of the comments made.

Custer was racing behind Logano, who snagged the final spot in the round of eight, while Bowman was racing near Chastain. After the race, Hamlin said he wished he'd been told on his team radio not to pass Chastain in an attempt to eliminate Logano from title contention.

And, during the Xfinity Series race one day earlier, NASCAR warned two teams already locked into the next round about discussing the points scenarios for cars that had yet to advance.

“Fans should be coming to the race track and expecting a straight-up race where each position is fought for as hard as possible, especially at the end of a race," Forde said on the podcast. He also noted NASCAR would have acted if it had heard Joe Gibbs Racing telling Hamlin not to pass Chastain.

“If we heard that radio transmission say, ‘Hey, (Chastain) needs this point to advance to the next round over (Logano)’ or something of that ilk, and all of a sudden, (Hamlin) let off the gas, that would probably raise a red flag on our side," Forde said.

NASCAR plans to increase horsepower to 750 for Cup Series races at road courses and oval tracks less than 1.5 miles for next season.

The horsepower figure will be an increase from the baseline 670 in the current rules configuration for NASCAR’s top division. The move comes amid growing demand from drivers, the industry and fans for a power boost to the Next Gen car, which has been in use since 2022.

The increased horsepower is expected to place a greater premium on drivers’ throttle control, while also incentivizing tire management and creating more passing opportunities with varying on- and off-throttle times.

“I would say, like any other change that we are considering to the cars, we listen to the fans a lot,” said John Probst, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “We listen to the drivers. We have stakeholders in the broadcast, OEM (manufacturers) and team competition and team business folks, so there’s always no shortage of feedback that we get."

The complete rules configuration and competition update briefing for 2026 isn't scheduled until the offseason.

Larson is the betting favorite at plus-475. ... Four of the eight playoff drivers have a combined nine wins at the track — Logano (4), Larson (3), Hamlin (1) and Byron (1). ... Hendrick Motorsports drivers won five of the last nine Las Vegas races with three different drivers: Larson (3), Bowman and Byron one wine each. ... Larson leads all drivers at Las Vegas with 690 laps led and seven stage wins, his average finish of 9.39 leads all drivers with more than three starts.

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