Is Chase Elliott vs. Denny Hamlin NASCAR’s next great rivalry?

Each week SB Nation’s NASCAR reporter Jordan Bianchi answers your questions about the latest news and happenings within the sport. If you have a future mailbag question, email jordanmbianchi@gmail.com.

What happens with Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott now? Is this feud over because Chase got payback on Denny or will this continue on for some time?

--Dave

Conventional wisdom suggests Elliott and Hamlin are now even and everyone can move, albeit with some lingering resentment. Whether that happens or not largely depends on Hamlin and if he chooses to escalate things in the aftermath of what transpired at Phoenix Raceway.

Were Hamlin to feel compelled to return the favor on Elliott, then it stands to reason NASCAR’s newest rivalry will continue on. Elliott was quite clear he will race guys how they race him, and as he demonstrated Sunday he has zero qualm getting physical if the need arises.

Eventually, though, if the situation becomes untenable to the point Elliott and Hamlin are wrecking each other on a regular basis, NASCAR will step in and put a stop to the shenanigans. The last thing the sanctioning body wants is a situation like what occurred between Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano in 2015 where the animosity overflowed so that the normally mild-mannered Kenseth transformed into character straight out of Mad Max, where despite being multiple laps behind he deliberately crashed Logano out of a playoff race.

Most likely to happen is Elliott and Hamlin will declare a truce with both realizing they cost the other a shot at the championship. It also helps that the offseason is just around the corner, which allows both to take a step back and start anew in 2018. Similar to what happened between Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer in 2012, after Gordon intentionally wrecked Bowyer, who was in title contention. It seemed then the hard feelings would never subside, yet the two later came to a détente while coincidentally finding themselves at the same party on Puffy Daddy’s yacht. (Yes, you read that correctly.) Gordon and Busch never had an issue since.

Does Matt [Kenseth] winning do anything for his job prospects? Maybe persuade a team to give him a shot next season as he obviously can still drive?

--Barry

Nothing that occurred Sunday changes anything about Kenseth’s status. There was never any question whether he could be competitive and still win races, that much was obvious to anyone who watched him race this season. Team owners are fully aware that having a driver of his caliber is a betterment to their organizations.

That Kenseth doesn’t have a ride for 2018 is because his price tag isn’t something most team owners cannot afford in the current marketplace where operating costs remain exorbitant, all the while sponsors are harder to find and those remaining in the sport are paying less.

For Kenseth to land a top-flight ride necessitates a team willing to take on a big salary, yet there are simply no teams willing to do that. Potential suitors like Hendrick Motorsports — an ideal spot as it would’ve allowed Kenseth to race another year and act as a bridge to promising up-and-comer William Byron — never developed because the team had neither the funding in place nor the desire to bring on a big contract. The same is why Stewart-Haas Racing, another oft-mentioned destination, wasn’t a possibility.

As it so often is in other sports, salaries have become the predominant factor NASCAR teams consider when hiring drivers. Unfortunately, the downside of that is veterans such as Kenseth are getting squeezed out whereas previously they would’ve had no shortage of suitors.

If this new playoff format was supposed to reward the best drivers, then does Kyle Larson not making the final four while Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski did show the playoffs are still about getting hot at the right time?

--Tommy

Quite the contrary. Although Larson’s absence from the championship round is a notable absence, considering he won four times during the regular season and was consistently best of the non-Toyotas, it doesn’t diminish the quality of the field. Both Harvick and Keselowski rank fifth or better in top-fives, top-10s, and laps led, statistics that make their inclusion certainly deserving.

Regardless of any tweaks enacted, any knockout format creates an opening where those who dominated during the regular season may not find the same success come the postseason. Whether due to underperformance, luck, or other factors.

But the current format is fairer than any of the previous incarnations since NASCAR expanded the field and incorporated eliminations prior to the 2014 season. Underscored by the strength of this year’s championship field featuring four of the five best drivers for the totality of the season, with each of the participants possessing worthy résumés.