Bizarre strategy dooms Denny Hamlin during Sunday's race

In the NASCAR playoffs, there's little room for error.

Every lap matters that much more, and with every position on track being equivalent to a point, collecting stage points and good finishes is key to making a championship run.

So why, exactly, did Denny Hamlin seemingly avoid points like the plague in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener at Atlanta?

Drivers intentionally hanging back at superspeedways in order to avoid wrecks is nothing new, but Hamlin and the No. 11 team were determined to stay as far away from the front of the field as possible.

Hamlin's bizarre strategy may have been decided for him on Saturday, when an engine issue contributed to a 38th-place qualifying effort. Hamlin finished 34th and 29th in Stages 1 and 2, respectively — results indicative of his conscious decision to let his competitors take important stage points for themselves.

The problem with Hamlin deciding to laying back? At a track like Atlanta where making big moves requires laps upon laps of effort, a car as slow as the No. 11 was on Sunday won't be able to make moves, regardless of whether the driver is trying to hang back or not.

Even with the writing clearly on the wall that Hamlin was in need of track position late, no wacky strategy or major adjustment was made, leaving Hamlin's fans scratching their head.

To cap off one of the worst weekends of Hamlin's career, he was caught up in the last-lap crash that occurred in Turn 4. When the checkered flag flew, he was scored 24th, earning just 13 points on a day where nothing went right.

Hamlin went from 10 points above the cut line entering Atlanta to just two points above it after Atlanta. With Watkins Glen and Bristol on tap to close the Round of 16, no more mistakes of this scale can be made by Hamlin or his team.

In the playoffs, every move, positive or negative, is emphasized. Hamlin's questionable strategy didn't end his championship hopes, but it did call into question how focused the No. 11 team is as they try to earn Hamlin his first title.