Denny Hamlin gets major NASCAR playoff boost with crucial team change for Las Vegas

Denny Hamlin has been the biggest storyline at every one of the last three NASCAR Cup Series playoff races - but he did not win any of them.

They should really have renamed the Round of 12 ‘the round of Denny’ after the 44-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing superstar courted controversy every single weekend.

First he wrecked teammate Ty Gibbs at New Hampshire, and then followed up by ruining the victory hopes of 23XI Racing star Bubba Wallace (remember Denny co-owns the team) at Kansas.

On Sunday at the Roval in Charlotte, Hamlin completed the trifecta of big controversies when he passed Ross Chastain on the final lap, in the process sending his big title rival Joey Logano through to the Round of 8.

READ MORE: NASCAR adds more horsepower but it is still 'a bandaid on a bullet wound'

Hamlin gets two crew members back for Vegas

One thing notable about those two most recent races - at Kansas and Charlotte - was two key members of Hamlin’s team being missing for both.

Hamlin suffered a blow after Bristol last month when front tire changer Austin Maloney and jackman Joel-Alexandre Bouagnon were both handed two-race suspensions for a wheel coming off the No. 11 Toyota.

JGR then took the available option to defer the suspensions by one race, meaning they began at Kansas instead of New Hampshire.

The good news for Denny now is that both men are free to return as the Round of 8 begins with the South Point 400 in Las Vegas this weekend (Sunday, 5.30pm ET, USA network).

It’s a major boost for Hamlin as he continues the search for that elusive first Cup Series championship. This despite the fact he has claimed a ridiculous haul of 59 race wins.

Hamlin had looked good in the first stage of the playoffs, claiming a win at St Louis to lock into the Round of 12. And despite those adverse headlines on the last three Sundays, he showed the speed in his Toyota is still very much there with that second in Kansas.

Now the JGR star will begin the Round of 8 in Vegas at the head of the playoff standings - some 8 points above the cutline. Having his crew back at full strength is happening at just the right time.

READ MORE: Carson Hocevar has a five-point plan to fix NASCAR

Related