Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service
AVONDALE, Ariz. – After pulling onto pit road in the moments after the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race checkered flag flew at Phoenix Raceway Sunday, the day’s most dominant driver Denny Hamlin slid his helmet off, handed it to a team member and then sat in his car for nearly five minutes, simply gazing out toward the track.
The utter disappointment and competitive pain of leading four times the number of laps (208) as anyone else in the field but missing out on his first championship trophy was palpable to those standing nearby. The veteran driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota finished sixth in the race after a two-lap overtime sprint to the checkered flag – more significantly, second among the four championship-eligible drivers that included Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, who finished third.
Larson gambled on a two-tire pit stop leading to an overtime re-start. Hamlin’s crew gave him four tires on a slightly longer stop. Larson re-started fifth and Hamlin, 10th and despite a valiant effort Hamlin was unable to get around his good friend and racing rival Larson.
So, Larson hoisted his second NASCAR Cup Series championship trophy, while Hamlin was consoling his pit crew. And vice versa.
It was a stunning end to a race where the 44-year-old potential future NASCAR Hall of Famer Hamlin easily and convincingly proved himself the class of the field all day long. He won pole position and led the race seven different times – 208 of the 319 laps. He was leading when the final caution flag flew just as Hamlin’s Toyota pulled within a few hundred yards of the finish line.
“We were 40 seconds from a championship,” said the Virginian, who has now finished championship runner-up twice in his 20-year fulltime career in NASCAR’s premier series.
“Gosh, you work so hard. This sport can drive you absolutely crazy ’cause sometimes speed, talent, all that stuff, just does not matter.”
Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gayle immediately approached the driver after he climbed out of the car. He leaned in and said something in Hamlin’s ear and the two embraced.
It was clear Gayle was equally as disappointed considering the top-shelf day the team had turned in, the amazing season – including a series’ high six victories – they had earned.
“He’s a champion either way,” Gayle said. “He put in the work. He dominated the race. He sat on the pole. He did everything he needed to be a champion today. It didn’t work out for him on the last re-start but that’s the truth.”
After dutifully doing a television interview leaning against his parked car, Hamlin walked over to a golf cart near pit wall where his two young daughters, 12-year-old Taylor and seven-year-old Molly were waiting for him. He embraced each of them, helped wipe their tears and then held Molly on his lap. Even in his own disappointment, he used the opportunity to reassure and comfort his young family.
Asked later what he told them, the series’ winningest active driver (60 wins) said he simply explained the race outcome – this time – was, “something we can’t control.”
“You know, certainly unfortunate circumstances,” Hamlin said of the conversation. “One of those life lessons, years down the road.”
It was a gut-wrenching lesson in the present for Hamlin, who has spoken all week about wanting to finally claim the sport’s most prestigious trophy in part, so his ill father Dennis – watching the race from home in North Carolina – could see his son, a three-time Daytona 500 winner, earn and enjoy yet another great career celebration.
While Hamlin did not hoist that trophy this weekend, he did accomplish something arguably as significant. He showed his father, his young daughters, his massive fandom, his race team and even his competitors how to handle a difficult let down with class and grace.
Hamlin may not have won the NASCAR Cup Series Championship trophy this weekend, but he sure won respect and hearts with the way he so admiringly answered challenge and disappointment.
And he will be back.
“Kyle Larson has the trophy, but we dominated,” Hamlin conceded. “We did our job. We did the best we could.
“They’re a championship team and a championship driver. They’re going to win a hell of a lot more than just these two. But when everyone had to bring their best, I think it was evident who was the best today.”
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nice to see larson get the best of hamlin for a change after being wrecked by him so many times in the past
Four tires was a stupid move. Track position with a green-white checker is EVERYTHING!!!! Two tires would have been enough and maintain track position. The 11 was strong all day, but not strong enough to overcome bad track position in just two laps.
That was painful to watch, starting when the team went to change left side tires. It was all over right then.
I’ve been rooting for the 11 car for decades and this was brutal.
Monday morning quarterback
No, not Monday morning quarterbacking. I dismissed the 11 when they took 4 tires. That cost tons of track position that can’t be recovered in TWO laps. It was over for the 11 on that pit stop. The 11 never got close to the 5.
Agree.
4 tire call was probably not the tight call, unless Hamlin thought he felt something on that last run, even though nothing was mentioned. Guess he thought he could get a better restart back in the pack, than he did.
I BLAME ASSCAR!!!! THERE IS NO NEED REASONABLE REASON TO HAVE PLAYOFFS IN MOTORSPORTS!!!! ITS RIDICULOUS!!!! SO MANY DRIVERS HAVE BEEN SCREWED BY THIS SYSTEM!!!! THEY NEED TO GET RID OF IT!!!! CONOR GOT SCREWED TOO!!! SYSTEM SUCKS!!!!!!!!! TEAMS HAVE A OUTSTANDING SEASON AND GET SCREWED!!! I WANNA USE ANOTHER TERM , BUT I”LL KEEP IT PG. (AND SHAWN WOULD’NT PRINT IT HA HA) I HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING RACING FOR 50 YEARS AND ASSCAR IS TURNING TOTALLY INTO A DICTATORSHIP. RUINING THE SPORT!!!! THAT’S MY OPPINION.
The NHRA has what I think is a great playoff system. After the US Nationals they reset the points for the top teams. The number of teams varies but it is at least the top 10 in points. Then they continue earning points, highest total wins. Many times with this system at least two of the four pro categories were decided at the final event, and some weren’t decided until the final round! Lots of good competition and story lines! NASCAR should take a look, you still have a multi-race playoff, but no “win one and you move on or win it all” flukes. The best performing teams for the season make the playoffs and the best overall in the playoffs wins the championship.
Lot of talk on the nascar channel on that very same topic Fast Ed.
It seems like some kind of tweak is likely to happen on the current system this off season. I’ve heard anything from just not stopping at the stage break, but still awarding points, to scrapping the whole system all together, to no more win your in. Rather, those that accumulate the most points in a particular playoff round get to move on. How they determine who gets in final rounds during the season at playoff times, seems to be up in the air as well. So, something will probably happen this off season to points system, but who knows how much it may or may not be. Hot stove topic at best at this point.
Interesting Topics,,, Richard Perry and Old School guys are fed up with the system and it needs a major overhaul… How about a win is worth 100 points more than second place…make top 5 finishes 50 points more than top ten… top 10 is worth 25 more points than top 20… the way it drops only 2 points per position is out of date… Make Winning and top 5’s & top 10’s mean something… Then at end of year clean the slate for the top 20 cars… after seeding … then just run all the rest of the races and see who can get the best finishes and Win the Championship by Racing for it !! whoever performs best Wins it All ..!!! just a few thoughts… On Hamlin , the 4 tires just sunk his chances right on pit lane…Years ago people did what the leader did, but those days are gone,.. especially with a small number of laps left..
I prefer KISS … Keep It Simple Silly !!!
How about standings are based on the cumulative average finish? The final championship ranking is the cumulative average finish of all races for each driver through the season. The lower the average finish number, the higher in the standings. No more stages, intermissions, etc.
RACE DAMN IT!!!
Enough of this points this, points that, blah, blah, blah blah, blah.
Goodfella, I like the RACE DAMN IT !! I will admit that years ago people used to complain that the races were boring cuz nobody raced until the last 50 – 100 laps … So they put in stages to force teams into getting up on the wheel earlier on in the race… I don’t care what the system is … Like the rest of us .. We just want , Or I WANT, WINS TO MEAN more whether points or bonus something..Top 5.. Top 10.. Finishes to mean more than a 2 point difference… make teams and Drivers chase WINS…!! I do like the Win and your in, that is still meaningful, no matter what the circumstances are… JUST WIN BABY , AL DAVIS ..!! So whatever the system is hopefully they fix it , so Our Petty’s & Earnhardt’s along with us
LONG TIME FANS are happy with it…
Jake, great minds think alike.
Do you follow the Tour de France (TDF)? That race is ~20 stage races over ~24 days. Whoever completes the entire race in the least time is the champion. Amazingly, there is only seconds between 1st and 2nd place, and usually time bonuses are in play. The top few positions get time taken off, with more time the higher one finished.
If something like that could be applied to NASCAR, that the entire season is the race, and each individual race is a stage race, that could be exciting. I know the way the TDF is scored is fantastic. They race HARD for the bonus time breaks, and it makes for great racing.
Every once in a while I see an article about the way NASCAR scores and how the season results would be different under different scoring schemes. It’s strange, but I think NASCAR has to get as simple and direct as possible.
That Tour De France scoring is really cool ,… I was unaware of that System…& it has France in the name so maybe the Frances should look at it … All those miles and it comes down to seconds…WOW … We want Drivers hungry for Wins… That always makes for great Racing on Track.. I hope Silk and team return to full time Tour Racing with Nascar.. There is much less travel this year… When Silk & Moran show up it always adds to the Race Quality in my humble opinion…Maybe they will Run New Smyrna and the Tour Race this year and just keep showing up … I hope so… Good mix of young Drivers and Veterans….
I saw some comments about the Haydt-Yannone Silk-Moran team running full-time in ‘26. They have it going on, they should take advantage of the sum total and bring it on. They would have been a highly favored team in championship contention. Especially with the reduced travel and Northeast centered ‘26 schedule.
I’m hoping Matt Hirschman feels good about his ‘25 season and will run ‘26. Lots of horsepower tracks he’ll have to contend with. A bit outside his realm of skidpad expertise.
Little over 2-½ months until New Smyrna. Can’t wait.
I plan on being there for the World Series in Florida… One cool thing is I am able to watch the Rocket Launches from Cape Canaveral … Wow the power of those Rockets is amazing.. The Blue Origin New Glenn Rocket launch was super cool .. Heading to Mars… the sounds and sonic booms !! they even stuck the landing on the booster rocket on a ship offshore… only the second company to ever do it.. Elon’s SpaceX was the first…
That’s awesome!!!! I tried to get to Florida during the Space Shuttle days, but the launch delays were too common and made the travel down there too much of a gamble given how rarely they launched on schedule.