NASCAR Cup Series

Is Denny Hamlin really in danger of not advancing in the Chase?

Published Sep. 24, 2014 11:30 a.m. ET

Larry McReynolds

We head to Dover this weekend and the pressure simply continues to build on these Chase drivers. This is race No. 3 in the 2014 Chase, and I'm a little surprised by a couple names that are as of right now, on the outside looking in for advancing to the next round.

To me the obvious name that sticks out in that bottom four in the Chase points has to be Denny Hamlin. He had a good run at Chicago two weeks ago for the first race in the Chase. It looked like Joe Gibbs Racing was finally starting to show some life again with all three JGR cars finishing in the top 10 at Chicago. We know that Toyota is giving all its teams more horsepower -- which never hurts you anywhere.

Denny led laps Sunday at Loudon but that team may run together another 10 years and never have happen what happened Sunday with that fuel cell probe. It really was a weird circumstance because, remember, that same probe is used in the car all weekend long. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, it bit them Sunday during the race and Denny finished 37th.

That cost him six spots in the Chase standings, dropping him to 13th which, as we know, is outside the top 12 that will advance in the Chase after Sunday's race at Dover. Now the good news is Hamlin is only six points out of 12th. That's not a lot of points. Basically, that's only six positions at Dover.

When I filled my Chase bracket out, trust me when I tell you that Denny definitely wasn't one of the four drivers I had failing to advance to the second round of the Chase.

I still don't believe come the checkered flag at Dover Sunday afternoon that Denny Hamlin will still be in the bottom four and not advancing onward in the Chase.