The Coca-Cola 600 was a major disaster for the #5 Hendrick Motorsports team. Despite their best efforts, NASCAR’s decision to halt the Crown Jewel owing to humidity post-rain ended up playing right into the hands of their biggest rivals, Joe Gibbs Racing. With Denny Hamlin snatching the regular season points lead off Kyle Larson, Rick Hendrick’s side may not put their best foot forward in the final four.

But that’s not all. Christopher Bell’s 90 laps led at the Coca-Cola 600 were enough to gift him his second win of the 2024 season. With Bell now inching toward the top ten drivers in points, many believe his consistent results could guarantee a spot for the #20 JGR crew in the final four. However, Denny Hamlin is weary of speaking on it too soon.

Denny Hamlin believes Christopher Bell still has his work cut out to make the final four

This weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway was nothing but delightful for JGR, who made the most of the rough weather. From the very start of the race, both Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin were formidable forces fighting for the lead. But this time around, it was the younger JGR driver leading the veteran in their charge. Throughout the 249 laps of action that we got, Bell came out in front each time he was up against another driver.

At the end of the big day, Bell doubled his playoff point tally with seven points at Charlotte, taking his total to fourteen. This puts Bell in the third spot behind Denny Hamlin and William Byron ahead of the 2024 playoffs. So while it may seem like the #20 driver is already on their way to Championship 4, Denny Hamlin needed to give fans a reality check.

Denny Hamlin shared on Actions Detrimental, “I don’t like overreacting too much to week by week (results). I think that they clearly had the capability and speed to do it. They’ve shown that year after year. I think they’ve made the final four two years in a row. He’s now getting some wins to get some bonus points. That’s one thing he hasn’t had a tonne of leading up to the previous seasons.” 

According to Denny, Bell needs to continue bringing home playoff points regularly to stand a shot at the Championship 4. So far, Hamlin believes wins have heavily influenced Bell’s position in the rankings. His win at Phoenix brought home 6 points, and his win at Charlotte brought home 7, leaving the remaining races as nothing but missed opportunities. Given that Bell is still working on his consistency, Hamlin believes a little further development could do the trick.

For Hamlin, the first half of the regular season just isn’t enough time to judge Bell’s position. The #11 JGR driver stated, “He’s working on getting more now, and so he’s probably got ten bonus points. If he can get himself in the top ten in points, he’ll get some more points there. He’s always had to win his way into the final four, and he has, but it’s just easy to react and say oh, he’s one of my final four, and he very well could be. But I don’t know, I just feel you need a little bit more of a sample size.”

While it’s safe to say Denny Hamlin is staying conservative with his opinion of Christopher Bell’s resurgence, the veteran couldn’t be happier to see the youngster succeed in the Cup Series.

Hamlin’s ‘love‘ for Bell in victory lane has a hysterical reason behind it

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Denny Hamlin isn’t the typical driver to show support for the competition. After all, Hamlin’s ‘I beat your favorite driver’ shenanigans certainly didn’t go easy on the rest of the grid. That being said, there’s one driver Hamlin is delighted to see in victory lane. Being one of the senior drivers at JGR alongside Truex Jr, Hamlin finds himself in awe every time Christopher Bell wins. But what’s so notable about the #20 driver in victory lane?

Speaking on Actions Detrimental, Hamlin shared; “I love Christopher Bell in Victory Lane, his voice always gets higher and he talks faster. If you listen to Christopher, and I listen to him quite a bit, because he’s a person you want to listen to in our meetings. The way he talks there and when he’s happy, he changes his tone. The literal tone of his voice changes, it gets higher and he speaks faster. And I love that because I can always tell Christopher Bell’s feelings based on how he’s talking.” 

At the end of the Coker 600, Christopher Bell was in his team trailer, engaging with the radioactive show as he prepared to head back out to race. But as soon as NASCAR called the winner, the #20 driver was overflowing with joy, as visible in the post-race interviews. This, according to Hamlin, was all down to Bell’s own ability. He concluded, “So it was good to see how joyful he and his wife were…(…)…He’s had speed just couldn’t finish there (previously). But he was certainly a deserving winner of the race, given how strong he was all day.” 

Although Denny Hamlin believes Christopher Bell deserved victory at the Coke 600, can the #20 driver also prove his capability to make it to the final four?