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NASCAR Playoffs post-mortem: Saying goodbye to the 4 eliminated drivers

By Nick Tylwalk

CHARLOTTE, NC - SEPTEMBER 30: #48: Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Lowe's for Pros during the running of the Inagural Bank of America ROVAL 400 on Sunday September 30, 2018 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord North Carolina (Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CHARLOTTE, NC - SEPTEMBER 30: #48: Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Lowe's for Pros during the running of the Inagural Bank of America ROVAL 400 on Sunday September 30, 2018 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord North Carolina (Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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RICHMOND, VA – SEPTEMBER 22: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Office Toyota, greets fans on the red carpet prior to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway on September 22, 2018 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
RICHMOND, VA – SEPTEMBER 22: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Office Toyota, greets fans on the red carpet prior to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway on September 22, 2018 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /

Denny Hamlin

High point of 2018: Looked the part of a championship contender in the season’s first month, with three top-four results in the first four races. That was before anyone had coined the ‘Big 3’ moniker, mind you, and it became obvious that Joe Gibbs Racing was not going to challenge Stewart-Haas Racing for overall team supremacy. Also decided to stop feeding trolls on Twitter, which seems like it had an overall positive effect on his demeanor.

Low point of 2018: In terms of results, it was finishing 38th in the summer Daytona race. His 32nd-place finish in the playoff opener at Las Vegas also put him well behind the eight-ball. Taking a broader view, his personal low occurred before the green flag even dropped on the season, when Hamlin went on Pardon My Take and joked about 70 percent of the garage being on Adderall, pissing off Kevin Harvick and probably a bunch of other drivers to boot.

Better luck next year? Hamlin carries himself like a title contender because he has been for most of his Cup Series career. The hard truth is that he really wasn’t in 2018, and if Martin Truex Jr. really does come to JGR next season, he’ll run the serious risk of falling to a distant third in his team’s internal pecking order. How he and the rest of the 11 crew respond to that challenge could be one of the more interesting storylines for 2019.

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