NASCAR's longest-running soap opera needs a new ending

The opening narration for one of the longest-running American soap operas goes, “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”

The meaning of the Days of Our Lives slogan is subjective, and a quick Google search of what’s been written about it will yield anything from enjoying the moment, to how life cannot be flipped over and started again, or even how human life moves forward grain by grain, like said grain moves through an hourglass. Naturally, there is also a Reddit thread on the topic.

But in the context of the show, the slogan might make sense as a metaphor for how life and its drama unfold over time.

Maybe that’s why, after Sunday’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the slogan came to mind when evaluating how Denny Hamlin again lost points to his championship rival. At this point in the year, for many of the 21 years Hamlin has been a NASCAR Cup Series driver, his championship aspirations have played out like a soap opera, with dramatic twists and turns as he continues to come up empty.

Untimely cautions. Too much tape on the grille. Bad fuel mileage. Spinning himself in the finale. 

Like sand through the hourglass, these September, October, and November days have become an expected part of everyone’s life. How will Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing fail to seal the deal this time?

It certainly seems to be happening again.

Hamlin, 49 points back, is still in contention for the Cup Series championship, and with four races left, plenty of points and opportunities remain. And there are also plenty of opportunities for Kyle Larson, the championship leader that Hamlin and others have been waiting on to stumble, to, well, stumble. But over six races, Larson has been nearly perfect, averaging a 2.8 finish.

Larson's hot streak is coming at exactly the wrong time for Hamlin. Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

The script has played out differently in Hamlin’s melodrama. After entering the postseason as the No. 1 seed, Hamlin lost the point lead after the third race at Bristol Motor Speedway, when Larson overtook him by one point. The gap has grown in every race since.

In six championship races, Hamlin has never been the highest-scoring Chase driver. Hamlin has scored 40 or more points in only two races (Kansas Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway). Christopher Bell, Larson (twice), Joey Logano, and Chase Briscoe (twice) have all been the highest-scoring driver in a Chase race.

The battle right now, however, is between Larson and Hamlin. Larson has gotten hot at the right time, picking up his first win of the season in the second Chase race. He took the point lead a week later. Larson’s second win came in the fourth Chase race.

Larson has outscored Hamlin in total points in all six Chase races. As for stage points, Hamlin outscored Larson only once, in the opener at Darlington Raceway, 16 to 9. Furthermore, Larson has led 556 laps in the Chase across five of the six races. Hamlin has led 109 laps in three of six races.

To add insult to injury, Hamlin or his team have made a mistake in at least four of the six Chase races. Whether it be on pit road or on the racetrack.

Charlotte was also the first time that Hamlin finished ahead of Larson in the race results. By one spot.

The postseason has been a vicious cycle for Hamlin: good, but not good enough. For his fans, it’s become a long-running tradition, just like bringing someone back from the dead is on Days of Our Lives. A slightly more apt take, or criticism, is that, at this point in the season, Hamlin’s mistaken identity is revealed as a pretender rather than a contender. Another hallmark of a soap opera.

It seems to be a recurring theme for the 45-year-old. No matter how good he was in the regular season, or how well he might have started a postseason, the result is always the same.

Hamlin will have to prove it all wrong by finally changing the ending. Perhaps fittingly, in keeping with this narrative, the last chance will come on Nov. 8 – the same day Days of Our Lives premiered in 1965.