Imagine heading into a crucial postseason race with your back against the wall. Your championship rival holds a 41-point lead and appears to be in the form of his life. You finish ahead of him, only to leave the track with an even bigger 49-point deficit. That’s the agonizing reality Denny Hamlin faced after Sunday’s Bank of America 400.

Hamlin started 12th because of NASCAR’s qualifying metric after Saturday’s session was washed out. He made his way into the top 10 in Stage 1 before the competition caution on Lap 35 forced him to pit. There, he was held in his box by Connor Zilisch’s No. 88 Chevrolet, derailing his race and leaving him wishing NASCAR had a different way of determining the starting order.

“I wish we would have qualified. Certainly, I felt like we could have gotten a little better pit selection and wouldn’t have had the 88,” Hamlin told USA Sports after the race.

In NASCAR, pit-stall selection is determined by qualifying results. The pole winner gets first choice, followed by the second-place qualifier, with the order continuing down the field. Hamlin dropped outside the top 20 after being blocked by Zilisch’s Chevrolet. But things got worse when a crew member stumbled over the wall while trying to collect a rolling right-front tire during the same pit stop.

NASCAR handed the No. 11 team a penalty for a safety violation, sending Hamlin to the rear for the restart. With little time to recover, he ended Stage 1 in 15th place without scoring any points. Larson, meanwhile, won the stage and earned 10 valuable points to begin his Bank of America 400 race.

Zilisch and his team tried to help Hamlin later in the race, something the 45-year-old appreciated in his post-race interview. Recognizing that Hamlin was fighting for the championship and had been trapped behind them in a tight pit box, Zilisch’s crew adjusted their pit sequence to help.

“They worked with us the whole race, Connor and his team,” Hamlin said.

By delaying their own stops and changing their timing, they ensured their pit box was empty whenever Hamlin came down pit road. While this may have eased things for the No. 11 crew, it did little to change the outcome of the race, despite Hamlin’s best efforts to make up for the early setback.

He found more speed in Stage 2, finishing third, and remained competitive in the final stage, running among the top five for much of the stretch. However, he could not hold his position through the closing laps, losing places to Ford drivers Ryan Blaney and Josh Berry before settling for fifth.

Larson, who also struggled in the final stage, finished sixth behind the JGR driver. However, he still scored 49 points, nine more than Hamlin’s 40. The gap between the two now stands at 49 points with four races remaining in the Chase.

A better qualifying position could have given Hamlin a better choice of pit stall and potentially helped him avoid the congestion that disrupted his race in the first place. More importantly, a cleaner pit stop might have allowed him to stay in contention for valuable Stage 1 points, which could have made a difference in the championship battle.

Hamlin on what lies ahead

To say that the Chase has been dismal for Hamlin would be an understatement. He hasn’t won a race so far, with his results being 18th, 9th, 8th, 3rd, 16th, and 5th. Unforced execution errors, pit-road disasters, and strategic missteps have all put Hamlin’s dream of chasing his first championship at this level in jeopardy.

After spinning in Stage 1 at Las Vegas last weekend, he even admitted to wanting to “chew his steering wheel” out of pure frustration, a feeling that has only grown as the Chase has progressed. Meanwhile, defending champion Larson has woken up at just the right time.

Larson went winless throughout the regular season but has won twice in the Chase. He’s also finished second twice, along with sixth and fifth in the other two races. Hamlin is still one big win and a few good results away from catching Larson, but he knows time is running out.

Speaking about his performance in Charlotte, Hamlin said, “Just the long-run speed, and obviously, it tanked there the last 15 laps or so. Just didn’t have the long-run speed that we need. Thought the short run was OK. It was decent. Just felt like we were a lot better once it was daytime and once it cooled off and the track got a little bit faster, we lost the edge that we had.”

Hamlin can’t focus solely on Larson ahead of him as the season enters its home stretch, either. He also has Christopher Bell breathing down his neck, just two points behind. Then there’s his other JGR teammate, Chase Briscoe, who has made an astronomical rise in the standings.

Briscoe is 16 points behind Hamlin and has moved up four positions in the standings, gaining 58 points on Larson over the past two races alone, both of which he won.

The pit-road issue was frustrating, but Hamlin also knew that better performance would be necessary to keep his title hopes alive.

“Got to execute better, get a little faster. All of the above. Ultimately, we’re giving it all we’ve got right now.”

With four races remaining, Hamlin’s margin for error is shrinking fast. Charlotte showed that even when he manages to finish ahead of Larson, the points gap can still grow. If he hopes to turn his championship campaign around, the No. 11 team will need to find a way to turn its pace into stronger results before the opportunity slips away completely.