Viva Hamlin: Is Denny the Title Favorite & Vegas Recap

South Point 400:

Denny Hamlin capped off a triple header weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by dominating the second half of the race en route to his second win of the year. Does this make him the title favorite? Two wins in four playoff races and it appears he's getting hot at the right time of year. The race on Sunday (Sept. 26) was a rather "straight forward" race as Jeff Gluck described it on Twitter. Not a lot of action - except Joey Gase's terrifying wreck in turns 1 & 2. Kyle Larson and the HMS brigade looked unbeatable early in the race, but odd pit strategy during stage 2 set the four HMS Chevy's off what I anticipated the strategy to be - the strategy that put Hamlin in the winner's circle. But does Hamlin's recent dominance and speed set him up as the championship favorite?

I am not quite ready to sign off on Hamlin as the title favorite. Here's why: 1) Larson has the speed and ability to win every given week. I firmly believe that he would have won Sunday night if not for the strategy call by Cliff Daniels. In my opinion, like every other championship race under this format, to win the title you'll have to win the race. Larson strikes me as more capable to that do that than Hamlin. 2) Even as talented and great as Hamlin is, I see Truex Jr as more of a threat to Larson at Phoenix than Hamlin. MTJ has had the speed at the 750 HP tracks and likely would have another win or two under his belt at said tracks if not for some unlucky pit mishaps. 3) He still has to make it through the Round of 8. Granted he has and can win at any of the tracks, if HMS shows up like they did for Vegas before the pit strategy call and some bad luck for Byron and Bowman, they'll likely win Texas and Kansas. That leaves Martinsville where Denny can win, but several other drivers seem to have been better there than him the last few years. Granted Denny will be tough, and I think will make the title race, I am not convinced he is the favorite at this point.

Xfinity and Truck Recap:

Yet again, the Truck and Xfinity races were the best action on track this weekend. The Truck series rarely puts on a bad show especially on the 1.5-mile tracks. The action packed race had some additional drama with the controversy of intentional cautions by John Hunter Nemecheck and Carson Hocevar. Unfortunately for Carson he got slapped with a 1-lap penalty. I'll say this of NASCAR: that was the right call. What cursed them was the lack of any action taken against the 4 truck. All the drama did lead to wild finish with Christian Eckes stealing the win (deservedly so) and ThorSport sweeping positions 1-4. I do hope this leads to more opportunities for Eckes - dude is a wheel-man and deserves a solid ride in the Truck series or even Xfinity series.

That leads us to the Xfinity series. As is the norm most race weekends, they put on the best show. These cars are hide drive and seem to have the right horsepower v. downforce set up. I am screaming from the mountaintop again to the NASCAR brass that the Xfinity Series cars should be the Cup cars. I do hope the NextGen car gives us this type of action in the Cup Series each week. Enough of that soapbox (for this week). What a damn race though and Josh Berry is going to be dangerous next season going full-time for JR Motorsports. He comes in, leaving his beloved late model race in Martinsville to fill in for Annett and stole the show. It wasn't easy for him - and that's what leads me to think he will have 3-5 wins next year - he was caught up in that big caution early in the race. He did not give up and that 1 team put the work in to fix up the car. He rallied overtaking guys like Allgaier and Hemric who looked certain to dominate the race and parked his second JR Motorsports team of the year in victory lane. For me, I love to see the true underdog, hard working, came up the old fashioned way guy get the win. But, I think Berry loses that underdog status next year.

Looking Ahead:

Next week comes a Talladege triple header weekend. Expect pure chaos - especially for the Truck series - this weekend at Talladega. I have strong feeling that it will be the wild card race it is usually billed as for the playoffs. You have the Truck guys going for a championship four spot, the Xfinity series guys always put on a show (watch for the Kaulig cars to team up and dominate yet again), and the Cup series put on a show at Daytona with this package; add in the playoff drama and it will be a wild one. My predictions for this weekend's races at Talladega Superspeedway:

• Trucks - Ben Rhodes

• Xfinity - Justin Haley

• Cup - Ryan Blaney

I know these predictions aren't out there, but these three drives have, for the past two years, put themselves in winning positions at these types of track. Add in the drama I still see these three surviving and winning in their respective races.

A note from the author: I am completely new at this blogging and actually writing down my thoughts on races. Typically (and I still will) bore my wife, Carly, my best friend, Ryan, and my Dad with all that you read above. Yet, I wanted to share them with the NASCAR community, especially those wonderful folks I've connected with on Twitter over the years. What you read above is just my string of random thoughts from After the Checkered Flag. I hope you enjoyed what you read and if you want to following along, please do. Hit me up on Twitter (@a_jar581). Let's keep it civil and fun. -Alex

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