Heartbreak for Denny Hamlin.
Kyle Larson is a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion after a late-race caution shuffled the field and left Hamlin stuck back in traffic on the final restart after having the dominant car all day long.
Larson entered Phoenix as the only one of the championship four to have won a championship in the past, while Denny Hamlin, William Byron and Chase Briscoe were all hoping to take home their first trophy.
The story of the race was all of the tire problems. All four drivers racing for the championship suffered flat tires at some point throughout the day, but luckily for Hamlin his happened right as the caution came out and he was able to pit with the rest of the field for fresh rubber.
Hamlin led much of the race, though Byron managed to pass him towards the end of stage one to win the first stage. And the #11 car got shuffled back in the field when he suffered the flat tire at the end of stage two, but it didn’t take long for him to make his way back to the front of the field.
A caution came out with just 40 laps to go in the race, allowing all of the championship drivers to come to pit road for one last set of tires. But Briscoe and Hamlin opted for two tires, putting them at the front of the field for the restart as Hamlin and Larson lined up directly behind them after changing four tires.
On the ensuing restart, the four contenders were four wide racing for the lead, and it was ultimately Hamlin who was able to get to the front of the field. And as he did on most restarts, Hamlin quickly jumped out to a 3-second lead as Byron tried to find something to help him catch the #11 car.
But with just 3 laps to go, Byron blew a tire and brought out a caution, setting up a green-white-checkered overtime finish (and no doubt frustrating Hamlin).
The three remaining contenders came down pit road for fresh tires, and Larson chose to take two tires while Hamlin took four. The pit stop shuffled Hamlin back to 10th with just two laps to go and fresher tires than all of the cars in front of him, while Larson restarted in 5th.
On the restart, Hamlin managed to get even with Larson, but the #5 car was able to pull away and finish third to take home the championship trophy – without leading a lap in the race.
As Larson celebrated, Hamlin sat in his car, clearly heartbroken over coming so close to winning his first championship after 21 seasons in NASCAR. And he wanted this one especially bad, after revealing earlier in the week that his father is dying and won’t be around to see him win another one:
“Obviously my dad has been a huge fan of mine… Realistically, I know this is his last chance to get to see it if it does happen. They’re the ones that made the sacrifices, ultimately. I’m the one who said, ‘This is what I want to do,’ and they just had to figure out what all were they willing to sacrifice to make that happen.
This is the chance. If we’re going to do it and he’s going to see it, it’s going to have to happen now.”
In case you couldn’t tell, I was really pulling for Hamlin to win it this year, and it really sucks to see him come so close after dominating all day and have it slip away at the last minute thanks to a caution.
The 44-year old Hamlin has already confirmed that he plans to retire after the 2027 season, so he still has two more chances to win one. But even if he doesn’t, he’ll no doubt still go down as one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time – whether he has a championship or not.
