Denny Hamlin wrestled the points lead from Kevin Harvick and few cared

Godwin Kelly

| The Daytona Beach News-Journal

In olden times, when there was no NASCAR Cup Series playoff (kids, that would be from 1949 through 2003), Denny Hamlin’s achievement at Talladega Superspeedway would be front-page sports fodder, likely the lead story.

By winning the race at Talladega, Hamlin hopped over Kevin Harvick in the overall Cup Series points standings.

Harvick has been atop the standings for much of the season, but because of his giant cache of playoff points (67), the 2014 NASCAR champion decided to play it safe at Talladega and finished 20th.

Up until 2003, the Cup champion was determined by a season-long counting of the points, so this would have been a stop-the-presses development.

Instead, Hamlin’s move in the standings is nothing more than a footnote in what has been a hand-wringing season of far-fetched situations and wild developments.

Now it’s on to the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, the road course that thinks it’s a bumper-car ride . . .

FIRST GEAR: Chase Elliott is a natural on road courses.

Of his eight career NASCAR Cup Series victories, four have come on tracks that require a driver to turn their steering wheels to the right as well as left.

His second win of the 2020 season was on the Daytona Road Course, where he led 34 of the 65 laps, including the final 13.

Elliott is the defending Charlotte Roval winner, even though early in last year’s race he crashed head-on into a Turn 1 barrier on a restart.

The 24-year-old driver probably let out a cry of joy when NASCAR released the 2021 schedule, which features seven road-course events, including the no-points, big-money Busch Clash at Daytona.

SECOND GEAR: Only a pair of playoff drivers scored top-10 finishes at Talladega. Denny Hamlin won and Chase Elliott was fifth.

So that tightened things up around the playoff cut line. Since Kurt Busch, who won a wild one at Las Vegas, and Hamlin advance to Round 3 on race victories, there will be a scramble at the Roval to gain points.

Kyle Busch, the 2019 Cup champion, and Austin Dillon share the honor of being on the bubble. Both are 21 points behind Joey Logano in the playoff chart going into the Roval.

THIRD GEAR: Talladega produced a “typical” race last weekend. There were 59 lead changes among 18 drivers, plus 13 cautions that covered 54 laps. It took NASCAR officials three overtimes and 10 extra laps to get this race in the books.

FOURTH GEAR: Look for a 2021 rule change at Daytona and Talladega. The yellow-line rule was put into effect a few years ago to keep drivers from using the apron as part of the race track.

If a driver dips under the yellow line and advances their position, they can be penalized.

Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota went into the out-of-bounds area on the last lap to win at Talladega. NASCAR said that was OK because he went down there to avoid a wreck, but it gave him a perfect angle to catch and pass race leader Matt DiBenedetto.