If you’re a regular visitor to the NASCAR corner of the social media world, there is a common theme you may be hearing in 2026 — that NASCAR is cooking the books for the Toyota camp, and Denny Hamlin in particular, to become champions this year.

And while I can understand a little bit why that thought springs to mind for some people — as Toyota have won 10 of the first 16 races between Tyler Reddick (5), Hamlin (4) and Ty Gibbs (1); and even lesser Toyota teams like Legacy Motor Club are starting to show speed and run up front — the reality is far more boring that the conspiracy would have you believe.

Hamlin is just that good this year. As he’s said in the past, he’s beating your favorite driver, week in and week out, and achieving new career milestones week after week. He recent entered the ultra-rare 50 win/50 pole club, and has now passed the late Kyle Busch with his 64th career win (and sits 12 wins behind 8th-place Dale Earnhardt).

To be doing this at age 45 is nothing short of incredible in a sport where youth often prevails.

Championship weekends are supposed to be celebratory. Fun. Thrilling.

While the losing team’s fans may be upset, they can still appreciate a game well-played between competitors.

2025 Championship Weekend was a whole different vibe for NASCAR, and not in a good way.

With nonstop talk going into the weekend about the legitimacy of the one-race battle for the title, we knew the results were going to be looked at under a microscope.

To be frank, this weekend at Phoenix had a funereal feel to many fans, who saw this as the end of an era where changes that have been implemented have had unintended consequences that have hurt the sport’s integrity — and as the weekend played out, we saw two more heartbreaking examples of why this playoff format needs to end and a major reset is needed for the sport in 2026.

Friday Miracle from Heim, but disappointment for Zilisch on Saturday

To start the weekend, disaster was averted on Friday courtesy of a late 7-wide banzai move by Corey Heim that allowed him to claim a title that rightfully should have already been his. If he hadn’t won the championship due to late cautions, it would’ve been a travesty, as Heim had perhaps the most dominant season ever in the series’ history. So, we got through one day without a calamity.

But then our luck ran out.