Denny Hamlin Has One Season Left to Win a Cup Title, and Four More Storylines Carrying NASCAR to Daytona
Welcome to the Happy Hour Racing Race Preview. There is no Cup race this Sunday, so this one is a between-races feature on the stories that will not sit still until the engines fire again at Daytona.
The Short Version
The 2026 season ended on November 8 at Homestead-Miami. Kyle Larson won his third title, Ryan Blaney won the race, and the garage emptied out for fourteen weeks. The next green flag is the Clash at Daytona on February 13, 2027, with the Daytona 500 eight days later on February 21. The single biggest reason to care in the meantime: Denny Hamlin now has exactly one season left to win the championship that has gotten away from him for twenty-one years.
The Big Storylines Heading Into the Offseason
Hamlin is running out of road. He is the winningest driver in Cup history without a championship, and the number keeps climbing. He won four times in 2026, including three straight at Nashville, Michigan and Pocono, the first three-race streak of his career. The Pocono win was his 64th, which moved him into sole possession of ninth on the all-time wins list, one clear of the late Kyle Busch. He won the regular season championship. Then he finished third in the final standings on 2,445 points, seven behind Christopher Bell and fifty-six behind Larson. He has been runner-up twice, in 2010 and in 2025. He turns 46 this week. He has said he is stepping out of the car after 2027, and Joe Gibbs Racing has been openly trying to talk him into staying longer.
Carson Hocevar got suspended by his own team. At Martinsville he brake-checked Austin Cindric three or four times on a straightaway, caved in the nose of the No. 2 Ford and left Cindric with a DNF and a 36th-place finish. NASCAR did not park him. Spire Motorsports did. The team sat him down for the season finale and said that racing at the Cup level is a privilege, with co-owner Jeff Dickerson saying the way Hocevar conducted himself did not meet the standard the team sets. Justin Haley drove the No. 77 at Homestead.
Spire has suspended Carson Hocevar for this weekend … Justin Haley in for this weekend.
- Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) November 3, 2026
Because the suspension came from the team and not the sanctioning body, Spire had to ask NASCAR for a waiver so Hocevar could keep the points he had already earned, since Chase rules require a driver to start every race. NASCAR granted it.
Carson Hocevar/Spire, because Hocevar is not suspended by NASCAR, had to ask for a waiver for him to keep the points he earned up through Martinsville (because Chase rules require a driver in the Chase to start every race) and he was granted the waiver.
- Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) November 4, 2026
Dodge is back. For the first time since 2012, Dodge returns to Cup in 2027 with Kaulig Racing, running A.J. Allmendinger in the No. 16 and Ty Dillon in the No. 10. A fourth manufacturer changes the math on everything from engine shops to silly season.
The Drivers to Watch and Why
Hamlin, because the clock is the opponent now. For twenty-one seasons the argument against him was always that he had time. He does not. A driver who has won the Daytona 500 three times, who has won more races than all but eight people who ever did this, and who has never once stood in the confetti as champion, gets one more try. If he wins it, it is the best story the sport has told in years. Hamlin has also pointed at 18-year-old Brent Crews as the driver most likely to take over the No. 11, which makes every 2027 race a handoff in slow motion.
Hocevar, because he said the quiet part out loud. After the suspension he posted an 18-minute video and did not hide behind any of it. "I'm the bad guy. I made the mistake, I forced their decision." On the Cindric incident: "There's no denying that that wasn't racing." He said his apology means nothing without actions, and put a number on it, wanting to cut his roughly forty on-track incidents a year down to five or ten. Then Dale Earnhardt Jr. went on his podcast on November 9 and said he is going to put Hocevar in a JR Motorsports car next year, and the crowd went up. That is the whole Hocevar problem in one week: the sport cannot decide whether to punish him or sell tickets to him.
What to Watch For When Racing Comes Back
Larson is the problem everybody else has to solve. He closed 2026 on 2,501 points and took his third championship, which puts him in a group of eleven drivers who have won three or more. He is not slowing down and Hendrick is not getting worse. Any 2027 title story starts with somebody figuring out how to beat him over a full season, not over one race.
The driver market reshuffled more than usual. Brad Keselowski left RFK Racing as both driver and owner, and Ryan Preece moved into the No. 6. Jesse Love steps up to the Wood Brothers No. 21 as a rookie, Corey Heim takes a full-time 23XI seat after winning twice in part-time Cup starts, and Austin Hill runs the No. 33 at Richard Childress Racing. Legacy Motor Club added a third car, with Josh Berry in the No. 42 and Riley Herbst in the new No. 84.
Then the calendar does the rest. The Clash at Daytona runs February 13, back at the speedway for the first time since 2021, and the 69th Daytona 500 follows on February 21 on FOX. Daytona has never cared about who deserves anything. It is the one race where a career-defining season can start with a shove at 190 miles an hour, which is exactly why a guy with three of them and no title keeps showing up.
The Fan Debate
Here is the one worth arguing about until February. If Denny Hamlin retires after 2027 without a championship, does it change where he ranks all time? One side says no: 64 wins and three Daytona 500s is a career most Hall of Famers would trade for, and the formats he raced under decided titles in ways that had little to do with being the best driver over a season. The other side says the championship is the whole point, and that twenty-two tries is plenty of chances. There is no neutral answer, which is why it has been running in every comment section since Homestead.
The Bottom Line
Fourteen weeks from now the sport comes back with a champion nobody can beat, a villain nobody can agree on, a manufacturer nobody expected to see again, and a 46-year-old with one season left and one trophy missing. The offseason is quiet. 2027 will not be.
Gear up before the season starts. We carry driver gear for the names in this story, and the offseason is the only time it is not picked over.
- Denny Hamlin #11 2026 Las Vegas 61st Cup Win T-Shirt - the win that started his four-win season. He is on 64 now.
- Kyle Larson #5 2026 Kansas Clean Sweep Winner T-Shirt - from the run that ended with his third title.
- Carson Hocevar 2026 Spectrum Paint Scheme T-Shirt - for the fans who are on his side, and there are plenty.
- Ryan Blaney #12 2026 New Hampshire 301 Win T-Shirt - Blaney took the checkered flag at Homestead to close the year.
- Brad Keselowski #6 2026 Paint Scheme T-Shirt - his last season in the No. 6 before the move.
Want the win shirt in your mailbox the week it happens next season? That is what the win-shirt fan club is for.
