The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS – The first thing Denny Hamlin said when he climbed from his car after advancing into the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs was he wish he’d known not to pass Ross Chastain on the final lap.

In racing Chastain for that position, it knocked Chastain out of the playoffs and gave the final spot in the round of eight to Joey Logano, the reigning Cup Series champion and winner of two of the last three titles.

In fact, Logano and Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney have combined to win the last three consecutive championships, so Hamlin was fiercely criticized for not taking Logano out of contention.

The third round begins Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with eight drivers remaining and all representing the top teams in NASCAR: Hamlin leads Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe into the round, while Penske has Logano and Blaney and Hendrick Motorsports is represented by Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and William Byron. The field comprises three drivers each from Chevrolet and Toyota and two from Ford.

But there’s controversy surrounding the Hamlin and Chastain incident last Sunday in part because a year ago Logano was initially eliminated from the playoffs at Charlotte. He learned later that night he was back in the field when Bowman’s car failed inspection, then Logano won Las Vegas a week later to lock up a spot in the championship-deciding finale.

“Denny, would have to ask himself, ‘What’s going to give me the best chance to win the championship?’ if that’s your number one goal. If that’s your main goal to do that, ‘What gives me the best chances to win the whole thing?’” Logano wondered. “Is one competitor tougher than the other? I don’t know. I don’t know if you want to race against either one of us. Ross has proven to do whatever it takes to get to the next round or to win. He’s done that multiple times. Do you want to race against him? I don’t know.

“Do you want to race against us? I don’t think so, either. You’re probably in a no-win situation, so you might as well just pass him and go and get a better spot.”

The entire situation is also being scrutinized by NASCAR, which said this week it would be carefully monitoring potentials of race manipulation over the final month of the season. NASCAR managing director of communications Mike Forde said on the series’ “Hauler Talk” podcast that series officials would have acted if it had heard Joe Gibbs Racing telling Hamlin not to pass Chastain.

“If we heard that radio transmission say, ‘Hey, (Chastain) needs this point to advance to the next round over (Logano)’ or something of that ilk, and all of a sudden, (Hamlin) let off the gas, that would probably raise a red flag on our side,” Forde said.

Hamlin believes that isn’t right.

“I don’t see any reason why I can’t know what the point situation is,” Hamlin said Saturday. “I had no allegiance to either party, and so at that point, my question would be: ‘Do I have a right to choose my competitor?’

“I think the some of the sensitivity around this is obviously probably gambling focused, because I know that NASCAR is very, very sensitive, as they should be, with that to make sure everyone’s getting a fair shake,” Hamlin continued. “But on the race track, I feel as though, as long as you’re you don’t have a bias to one party or another… I don’t know why you can’t make the best decision for yourself. I’m more wondering, what is going to be allowed?”

The entire field of eight had the same question for NASCAR.

“It’s a slippery slope either way because where is the line? Is just telling somebody where you are in points and what’s going on around you, is that too far?” Logano said. “Saying straight-up what to do is probably too far. We can kind of understand that, but just saying what the point situation is, I don’t think that’s too far.

“I think just feeding someone data it still leaves it in the driver’s hands to do what they please with it. It’s just giving information. That’s all you’re doing.”