Denny Hamlin says NASCAR Cup Series rival's poor points position 'doesn't feel real'

NASCAR star Denny Hamlin says it doesn't feel real that Cup Series rival Ross Chastain currently sits 26th on points.

It's been a tough start to the year for the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet at Trackhouse Racing, with just two top-10 finishes through the opening 14 races of the season. His best finish outside of those was 16th.

That run includes two miserable Sundays at Charlotte and Nashville over the last couple of weeks, with Chastain having been classified as 35th and 37th, respectively, after separate issues in those events.

All of that leaves him with 239 points on the board at this stage of the year and in 26th - 67 points and 10 spots short of The Chase positions.

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Denny Hamlin analyzes Ross Chastain's Cup Series struggles

Speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast following Nashville, Hamlin can't believe where Chastain finds himself at this stage of the year, even despite their recent uptick in speed.

“I got these standings right here in front of me, Ross Chastain in 26th doesn’t seem real,” Hamlin said.

“I mean that team has just had horrible performance, and then here lately they've just had horrible results. I mean they they started the year off not good at all, really slow, and I think that they've righted the ship.

“I thought that Ross was one of the best cars in practice [at Nashville], and not just top speed, I'm saying, you know, give me your top three best cars from practice [and] I'll give you a lot different list than what the results will show. You know, a lot of it depends on when you're going out, how good you are in the short run, long run, did you have to stop in the middle of your runs? That can really skew a lot of things. All that stuff really matters.

“But I would have said that the one [Chastain] showed great pace, short run, long run. You saw it in his interview how excited he was with his car after practice."

Hamlin doubts Chastain Chase hopes

“Man, the results have just been really crappy,” Hamlin continued, before analyzing Chastain's chances of making The Chase.

“And so I'm starting to have to think about jumping off the Ross makes the playoffs train.

“I mean, he's 60-some back with plenty of racing left. You know, he could put up a 50/60 point day if they get the team righted and back to where it was, and it looks like the team is trending in a better direction on speed.

"It's wild," Hamlin concluded. "I don't know what would be more surprising, Ross in 26th or Joey [Logano] in 18th. I would say Ross in 26th."