Two races into the Round of 12 and two heated moments? Yes, that’s playoffs for you. But the common driver? Denny Hamlin. His collision with Bubba Wallace after wrestling with busted power steering at Kansas turned the tables. He is comfortable with a 48-point cushion above the cutoff, while Wallace is in big trouble as the NASCAR Cup garage heads to the Round of 12 finale. And that is exactly what is worrying for Wallace’s run.

Leading a race high 159 laps, sweeping the stages and scoring the fastest lap, Hamlin seemed almost desperate to get the 60th win. However, Wallace, who was battling the handling issues with the car early on, found himself nudged up the track and into the wall. That sure was frustrating for the 23XI driver after he had led both overtime restarts only to see Chase

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