Denny Hamlin has three "podium" finishes in his last three starts.OK, so none of them actually had a real podium for a top-three finish. That only occurred at Mexico City, where Hamlin didn’t race in the days following the birth of his son.

In terms of race wins and points collected, there's a clear top four right now. But Denny Hamlin is the only one executing on a weekly basis.

Denny Hamlin earned the top seed in the inaugural version of NASCAR’s In-season Challenge, a five-race, bracket-style tournament set to kick off next week in Atlanta.