Bell, Hamlin temper hopes for championship jackpot: ‘I don’t have any optimism’

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- So you're saying there's a chance? Neither Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin feel optimistic heading into the NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Bell is second in points, 67 markers behind Kyle Larson, the series leader and the apparent champion-in-waiting with a healthy advantage over his competition. Hamlin, Bell's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, is third in points, 70 back of Larson. Both Bell and Hamlin are seeking their first championships. MORE: Homestead-Miami schedule | Cup standings The odds are not in their favor. Larson would clinch the championship by scoring as few as eight stage points, even if either Bell or Hamlin scores a perfect 76-point day. But they stand a chance. Sort of. "I mean, I don't have any optimism," Hamlin said. "I don't. I'm here to try to have fun and try to win the race if possible. No matter what -- I mean there's obviously a chance you can win the lottery as well. But do you really count on that?" Missteps throughout The Chase presented by Mobil 1 have cost both points that would have tightened the gap to Larson entering the 2026 finale. Bell's most apparent mistake came at Talladega Superspeedway, where he entered just five points behind Larson but crashed entering pit road during Stage 1, squandering a golden opportunity to manage the point gap to Larson heading into the final two races of the season. That hasn't proven to cost him a shot at this championship yet, but Bell lost a whopping 69 points to Larson that afternoon. In short, execution has been the Achilles' heel of Bell and the No. 20 team throughout The Chase. "It was certainly not ideal," Bell said of his postseason. "I mean, we had the car performance, had the speed, and yeah, just execution ... lack of it is the reason why we're not in a better spot than we are." Hamlin walked into The Chase as the apparent man to beat, the No. 1 seed with a 25-point advantage over the next-nearest competitor. But throughout this 10-race postseason, the No. 11 team has yet to mirror the dominance it once showed this season, winless since June when he strung three consecutive victories together. Instead, errors and unfortunate circumstances put Hamlin behind week after week throughout the postseason, culminating in a performance that may leave Hamlin short of the championship all over again. "I think as long as the season is, this Chase can be defined by a few really small, short moments, and you just don't really know what they are until it happens or it's post-mortem," Hamlin said. "But yeah, it's a long, grueling season, but there's just little moments that just was the turning point that you're either gonna end up winning the championship or not." This story will be updated.