Denny Hamlin’s bid for his first NASCAR Cup Series Championship was scuttled by a late caution flag at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday as Kyle Larson came from behind to win his second season title in controversial fashion.
When the caution for William Byron came out, Hamlin led the field down pit road and got four new tires on his Toyota; Larson only took two tires on his Chevrolet. It meant Larson was fifth for the two-lap sprint to the finish, with Hamlin back in 10th.
With so little time to run down Larson, Hamlin came up short with a sixth-place finish as Larson finished third. Ryan Blaney, who was eliminated from title contention last week, won the race.
As Larson celebrated his second NASCAR Cup Series title, Hamlin sat in his car motionless for several seconds, then wiped his face with a white towel while remaining perfectly stoic.
Hamlin finally got out of his car he embraced his crew members, but it was a scene of disbelief among the Joe Gibbs Racing crowd. Team members were crying, some sitting in shock on the pavement, Gibbs himself stood silent, one hand on his hip and a look of disbelief on his face.
‘I really don’t have much for emotion right now. Just numb about it ’cause just in shock,’ a despondent Hamlin said after consoling his crying daughters on pit road. ‘We were 40 seconds away from a championship. This sport can drive you absolutely crazy because sometimes speed, talent, none of that matters.’
As Larson celebrated his second NASCAR Cup Series title, Hamlin sat in his car motionless for several seconds, then wiped his face with a white towel while remaining perfectly stoic
Hamlin is seen with his long-time partner, Jordan Fish, following his sixth-place finish
Hamlin reacts after climnbing out of his car following the NASCAR Championship race
The three-time Daytona 500 winner was already regarded as the most accomplished driver to never win a Cup Series title – an unwanted moniker previously held by Hall of Famer Mark Martin.
Unfortunately, Sunday’s final laps were a new degree of pain, not only for Hamlin, but for seemingly every NASCAR driver and fan.
Without that caution, which came with three laps to run, Hamlin had it locked up and was ready to finally shed the label of greatest NASCAR driver to never win a championship. But Byron got a flat tire and hit the wall to bring out the caution, and a few minutes later, it was over.
‘Just unbelievable,’ Larson said. ‘I cannot believe it.’
‘You do have to feel for that group and Denny. Doing a good job all day, it not playing out for him. But that is racing. It sucks sometimes,’ Blaney said. ‘They can hang their head about it, but they should be very proud about the effort. They had the fastest race car here. Just one of those things where it doesn’t work out. Looked like it was going into his favor, unfortunately for him, it didn’t.’
It is the second championship for Larson, who won his first title in 2021 when he joined Hendrick Motorsports. It is the 15th Cup title for the organization and came on the 30th anniversary of Jeff Gordon giving Hendrick its first championship in 1995.
Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, celebrates with his crew and family in victory lane after finish first of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship
Hamlin pits during the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway
Team owner Rick Hendrick, Gordon and Larson crew chief Cliff Daniels all said they did not believe Larson still had a chance at the championship after so many problems during the race.
‘I have to acknowledge that it was a pretty ugly day for us,’ Daniels said. ‘I think we were beat on raw pace, and after we had the flat tire, there wasn’t a lot of good things coming our way. The way the team stuck together and continued to believe in each other, Kyle continued to believe if we just had a shot we could close it out.’
It is the sixth shot at a title to slip away from Hamlin in his 20 years driving for Gibbs. He led 208 of the 319 laps and started from the pole.
‘Nothing I could do different. I mean, prepared as good as I could coming into the weekend and my team gave me a fantastic car,’ Hamlin said. ‘Just didn’t work out. I was just praying ‘no caution’ and we had one there. What can you do? It’s just not meant to be.’
He said crew chief Chris Gayle made the correct call with four tires, but too many others only took two, which created too big of a gap for Hamlin to close on Larson in so little time.
The 44-year-old Virginia native had been extremely jinxed in five previous championship finales, with bad luck, bad strategy and bad cars breaking his heart in 2010, 2014, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Sunday marked his first time eligible in the winner-take-all race in four seasons.
