Denny Hamlin notes Joey Logano 'leaking oil,' evaluates chances to make the Chase

After a strong start at Watkins Glen, a left front tire issue caused Joey Logano to hit the DVP area for extensive work. He finished the race in 38th place.

Worse, the result caused Logano to slip from -7 points down from the Chase cut line to -38 points. Denny Hamlin opened up on how disastrous the last few weeks have been for Logano and his team.

“Man, they are leaking oil. Holy cow,” Hamlin said. “Right? Do they just have a mechanical issue? I know they had a tire, right? I thought he qualified OK, right?”

Joey Logano has now logged four straight finishes of 30th or worse, an absolutely abysmal run that has left a potential spot in the Chase in serious jeopardy. There’s plenty of time to right the ship, but Hamlin put it bluntly.

“Logano 18th,” he said. “That is a surprise.”

Hamlin broke down the issue for Joey Logano pretty succinctly. It’s a combination of factors.

“I mean I think only one or two of those 30 (or worse) finishes were warranted because of actual performance,” he said. “But no, they’re not running good enough to be doing this, having other issues that are making them finish poorly.”

Denny Hamlin evaluates Joey Logano’s chances

So can Joey Logano right the ship in time to get back in the thick of contention to make the Chase? At 38 points down there is serious work to be done.

“I think he’s got enough dog in him, I do. I do,” Hamlin said. “I think that it wouldn’t be a big surprise — would it be out of character, yes — but not a big surprise for him to go and qualify inside the top four at a track a few weeks from now, get about a 55-point day and next thing you know he’s right back there, right where he was.”

Hamlin believes Logano’s team can get him there. It’s not a full-blown disaster scenario just yet.

“I think they’re capable. Obviously they’re capable,” he said. “They just, they’ve had poor finishes and poor luck to go with it. And that’s why they’re at where they’re at. Now, again, we’re 12 races in. It’s still, the sample size is quite big enough to where you still, you know, as a champ shouldn’t be that far down the list. But there’s a lot of guys that are. (William) Byron, (Christopher) Bell, (Kyle) Larson. These guys are all five, six spots out of their normal positioning at this time of the year.”

That said, this year is different. It’s the first year returning to the Chase format. It’s no longer win and you’re in, which might have been a bail-out for Joey Logano in this kind of situation in years past.

Now it’s just stacking good race after good race. You can’t have a month go by with a best finish of 30th place.

“It’s just the win and you’re in era changes everything, right?” Hamlin said. “You’re not playing your cards for that, trying to hit that one hand. This is a long, grind-it-out tournament. I still think that they’re good enough. The team is good enough, he’s good enough that… who’s he going to pick off? I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine.”