Fortunately for Hamlin, after producing a strong drive, he is not one of those four, despite starting Saturday's race below the cut line.
The #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver had a conservative start to the playoffs in Atlanta and Watkins Glen, only finishing 24th and 23rd respectively, but a P4 finish on Saturday ensured his playoff survival.
Reacting to Saturday's race, however, there was a tinge of disappointment in Hamlin's voice despite avoiding the drop. There were positives to take, too, though.
"Yeah, my aspiration was to win it, but it looked like the 5 there just was better than all of us," he said in pit road post-race.
"Yeah, solid car. I thought we were really good towards the middle stages, and then there at the end, just got too loose and couldn't hang on to kind of what we had there.
"But overall, top-5 day, good stage points, kind of in the mix, just not really as good as what we've been here the last couple times. But overall I thank this whole FedEx Toyota team for giving me something I could move on with.
Looking ahead to the round of 12 kicking off in Kansas City next weekend, Hamlin was asked if it felt like a bit of a reset, to which he responded with an exciting promise.
"Certainly, yeah," he explained. "It's all offense from this point forward,"
"So yeah, we're going to Kansas, a track we've been really good at, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the run."