While Tyler Reddick was elated as he passed two challengers on the final lap of Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway to earn and secure his spot in the Championship 4 field, the two Playoff drivers the 23XI Racing driver defeated had nothing but disappointment to show for their efforts. There is no more.

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Ryan Blaney, who is looking to defend his NASCAR Cup Series championship from a season ago, and Denny Hamlin, who is still trying to win the elusive first Bill France Cup, are just shy of a victory that would give both drivers one victory each. Get one step closer to the ultimate goal. Instead of both drivers locking up their place in the Championship 4, both will enter the final race of Round 8 of the Play-offs below the cutoff line.

Hamlin leaves Homestead sixth in the Playoff Standings, 18 points below the final spot, while Blaney is seventh, 38 points behind.

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While it was a heartbreaking end for both drivers, it was extremely agonizing for Blaney, who was on top in Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap. While Blaney advanced through the final turns from the middle of the track, Reddick, a master of driving in the outside lane to create momentum, moved directly into the outside lane.

“It’s obvious: disappointment,” Blaney said sadly when asked how he felt when Reddick finished performing his celebratory burnout. “Yeah, I had a great chance to win. My last lap wasn’t very good. Man, I thought I had a tight three going. The 45 just popped out there. It stuck for him, which is pretty impressive.”

Blaney says he’ll be agonizing over the finish the rest of the night, but he and the No. 12 Team Penske pack will refocus on the task at hand, which is to get the outright win in the Championship 4 at Martinsville Speedway.

“I’ll probably be thinking all night long about what I should have done differently,” Blaney said bitterly. “That’s the way things are going. Overall I’m really proud of this effort. Hopefully we can present it to them next week.”

While it wasn’t the result Blaney wanted in Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, it’s important to note that Blaney, who needed a win to advance to the Championship 4, finished second at Homestead last year and eventually followed that up. An exciting win at Martinsville Speedway. He will want to repeat this performance.

Hamlin, who finished the race for victory with three drivers in third place, said that he was at a disadvantage shortly before the finish after the caution was issued with Kyle Larson’s spin 12 laps before the end of the race. Hamlin’s car was one of the best in the event in the long run, but the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE struggled in the short run.

Hamlin explained the latest reboot: “Well, I don’t know what I could have done differently, actually.” “(I) Tried to get through all the lanes, but in the short run I couldn’t get out of the corner as well as I should have. Frankly, the short run wasn’t my forte all day.”

But Hamlin wasn’t willing to use the short run of the race as an excuse for losing the race. The 43-year-old racer said that he was in the lead with two laps left and could not finish the race.

“Either way, when you’re controlling the race with two people, you have to try to find a way to finish the race. But it didn’t happen,” Hamlin expressed.

While the disappointment is palpable for the 54-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner, Hamlin, a Virginia native, has established a reputation as a master at Martinsville Speedway, the Virginia short track that will host the final race of Round 8 of the Playoffs next week. .

Hamlin has five wins at the 0.526-mile short track and has logged a staggering 2,448 laps around the half-mile tack. Hamlin knows he has a good track record at Martinsville, but he was hesitant to commit as he did on the Actions Detrimental Podcast heading into the race last season.

“So yeah, this is another opportunity,” Hamlin explained. “You’re definitely not out of the woods until the checkered flag is thrown at Martinsville.”

Although he failed to win at Martinsville last year, Hamlin finished third and was in the mix for victory and promotion to the Championship 4 until Blaney came to the front in the closing laps. After suffering heartbreak in the closing laps at Homestead this week, expect both drivers to have a chance to make the Championship 4 at Martinsville Speedway next weekend, and if they ultimately come up short, expect them to go down swinging.