NASCAR playoff stars sent 'dangerous' Denny Hamlin warning

The remaining stars in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs have been warned they face a dangerous prospect after Denny Hamlin's victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Hamlin's Round of 8 could not have gotten off to a better start in Nevada, taking his 60th career victory and sixth of the season after beating the likes of Kyle Larson and Chase Briscoe late on.

With his win, the Joe Gibbs Racing star is now locked into the Championship 4 and guaranteed to be racing for a shot at the 2025 Cup Series title in Phoenix next month, regardless of what happens at Talladega and Martinsville in the coming weeks.

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Denny Hamlin advantage 'dangerous'

Naturally, this means that Hamlin and his team can already ramp up their preparations for Phoenix, whilst having to worry less about the results they achieve for the remainder of this round.

And, speaking on the Teardown Podcast following Sunday's race, NASCAR insider Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic believes this is a dangerous prospect for any of Hamlin's title rivals.

"Five of the last nine guys who have won the first race in this round [Round of 8] have gone on to win the championship," Bianchi explained.

"Denny Hamlin, behind the scenes, is as tireless a worker as you're going to find. He does not get enough credit for how much time he puts in behind the scenes in terms of sim work, meetings, leadership, etc.

"You're giving a guy who has got a tireless work ethic, who is all in on doing the little things, you're giving him a three-week head start now, and you're giving his team a three-week head start, where they can effectively just forget about the next two weeks [Talladega and Martinsville] and their mindset is, 'Boom! We're on Phoenix'.

"That's really dangerous."

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NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings

Who joins Hamlin in the Championship 4 remains to be seen, with an unpredictable superspeedway race at Talladega coming up before a trip to Martinsville the following weekend.

Currently, a number of previous champions find themselves at risk of not making it, but it only takes one strong result - or indeed the opposite - and everything can change.

With that said, here is the current state of play heading to Talladega.

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