“Golly, in this moment, I never want to race a car ever again. I mean, my fun meter is pegged.”
After Sunday’s Championship Race at Phoenix, Denny Hamlin stood beside his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on pit road, getting hugs from his family and speaking with crew chief Chris Gayle, as in the background, Kyle Larson celebrated his second NASCAR Cup Series title.
It wasn’t supposed to end this way for Hamlin, who found himself within 40-to-45 seconds of earning the biggest victory of his career, and, for the rest of his life, being acknowledged as a NASCAR Cup Series champion.
Then, William Byron blew a right-front tire, hit the wall, and drew a caution, bringing the winner-take-all contest — which looked pretty straightforward for the 44-year-old — into the NASCAR equivalent of extra innings in Game 7 of the World Series.
Being in a difficult position as the race-leader, Gayle made sure to allow his veteran driver to be on offense with four fresh tires. But that meant Cliff Daniels and Kyle Larson could take a risk, putting on right-side tires only for the two-lap run to the finish — a move that ultimately ended up winning Larson the championship.
“Nothing I can do different,” Hamlin told NBC Sports. “Prepared as good as I could coming into the weekend. My team gave me a fantastic car, just didn’t work out. I was just praying that no caution. Had one there. What can you do? Just not meant to be.”
Hamlin has been within a whisker of a NASCAR Cup Series Championship many times before this season, but none of those previous heartbreaks (even stacked together) come anywhere close to the devastation of Sunday’s loss.
The Chesterfield, Virginia-native spent 208 laps as the leader of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race, and 218 laps as the leader amongst the Championship 4. There is no question that Hamlin was the dominant force of the afternoon, and was poised to exploit the one-race final round to win his first title… before it all unraveled.
“I really don’t have much for emotion, right now,” Hamlin said upon getting into the Media Center for an availability amongst the Championship 4 drivers. “Just numb about it, because [I’m] just in shock. That’s about it.”
All of the emotions that surrounded this weekend, between the knowledge that Hamlin had another shot to compete for a championship, how he’d become the sentimental favorite, and what that triumph would mean for the late JD Gibbs and his father, Dennis Hamlin, who Hamlin revealed likely wouldn’t get another opportunity to see him compete for a championship.
Sure, things didn’t end up working out for Hamlin to be hoisting the Bill France Cup, and sometimes in life they just don’t, as the father of three had to explain to his daughters after the race, as “something we can’t control. You know, certainly unfortunate circumstances. One of those life lessons years down the road.”
Now, Hamlin, with his focus directed towards coming back even stronger for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, will return to North Carolina, where he’ll tell his ailing father, “[I] did the best I could.”
“Everything I really prepared for happened today. I felt like we responded. Even losing track position at one point, just battling back. Did really well on restarts. Hadn’t been good on restarts for the bulk of the year,” he added. “Yeah, the team brought a great championship car. I felt like I drove it just right up until two laps to go. Yeah, this is the part that stinks.”
