Monday, December 20th 'What If' Question

With 15 laps to go at the Phoenix International Raceway in mid November, Denny Hamlin was "sitting pretty."

He had just racked up the 10 bonus points for not only leading a lap but the most laps and was running second behind Carl Edwards. His Chase competitors, Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson were well behind him and just about out of the championship hunt thanks to Hamlin making sure they hadn't led a lap all day.

All he had to do was get to the checkered flag and he would be 60 points or more ahead of the two drivers heading into the season finale in Homestead-Miami. His first ever Sprint Cup Series championship was in his grasp, he could see it, taste it and feel it.

Then it was gone.

With 12 laps to go Hamlin was called down pit road by crew chief Mike Ford. Not wanting to gamble on fuel mileage and risk losing the championship lead, the 11 team pitted and went from potentially finishing second to finishing 12th ... well behind Harvick and Johnson.

The point lead going to Homestead was down to 15 points.

At Homestead Johnson went out and cruised, he started sixth and ran in the top five all day long to capture his fifth straight title. Hamlin's day was a complete nightmare. He started 37th, spun out and damaged his splitter and was never able to keep ahead of Johnson for a long run. He wound up finishing 14th and lost the championship by 39 points.

But ...

What if Denny Hamlin finished second at Phoenix instead of 12th and losing those points. Would he still have lost the championship?

@jerracing7 No. I think he would of won the championship

@WilliamCheerboy No, Clint Bowyer would of won it all.

@ronsracing88 I think Jimmie & Chad still would of found away to win.

@NASCARJeannie NO... he would have saved face and won the Championship. lol

@cruetten JJ and Knaus are the masters of the chase. They would've still won anyway; Denny Hamlin just made it a little easier for them

@ARosser14 His chances would've been better, he likely wouldn't have gotten into a situation where he got spun.

@StrokerAce90 Of course Denny would've still lost the championship. #Nascar's own Magic Johnson would've just pulled out more golden horseshoe power, which in turn would've resulted in Denny doin some "more" big smack talkin, then wrecking due to his own bad created karma.