Denny Hamlin has fortuitous finish in playoff race at Talladega

On a day that saw the majority of the playoff drivers involved in an accident, Denny Hamlin came out on the better end than most after an eventful Sunday at Talladega — especially considering the adversity he experienced.

Contrary to what Hamlin's strategy was at the most recent superspeedway-style race at Atlanta in the playoff opener, he raced toward the front of the field for a good portion of the opening two stages until he was caught up in a multi-car crash at the end of Stage 2. The crash ended the day for fellow playoff driver and defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney and non-playoff driver Ross Chastain.

The damage Hamlin received factored into crew chief Chris Gabehart's decision to change two tires during a green-flag stop on lap 171 while the rest of the field topped off with fuel only. Gabehart was concerned that the tire wear would be worse from the damage, electing to go with a different strategy than the rest of the field.

Fortunately for Hamlin and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team, calamity struck most of the field with five laps to go, including several playoff drivers. Hamlin's ill-handling Toyota and a lack of pace put him far enough behind the major pile-up and gained him 20 positions on track.

With playoff drivers Alex Bowman (16th), regular-season champion Tyler Reddick (20th), Daniel Suarez (26th), Chase Elliott (29th), Chase Briscoe (30th), Austin Cindric (32nd), Joey Logano (33rd) and Blaney (39th) either getting caught up in the massive wreck or experiencing other issues throughout the day, Hamlin was able to gain a significant amount of points.

After all the chaos that ensued, Hamlin came home with a 10th-place finish. More importantly, he went from minus-17 before the crash to plus-30 afterward. Hamlin is in a relatively good position heading into Sunday's Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course (2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

In a race won by non-playoff driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., only William Byron clinched a spot in the Round of 8 on points on Sunday. While Hamlin is not locked in on points after Talladega, he is thrilled to be one of a select few playoff drivers to finish in the top 10.

"I feel happy about it," Hamlin said . "I mean, ultimately, if you would have said I'd be where I'm at, I would have certainly took it before this race happened. So I think we're very fortunate today."

Considering how Hamlin's opening round of the playoffs went and the way the Round of 12 started for him at Kansas, a top 10 after an action-packed Talladega and a solid points cushion is more than most drivers can say.