“GOD DAMMIT! F—!!!” Denny Hamlin was heard screaming on the radio, visibly frustrated. And rightly so, as he crossed the finish line just 0.049 seconds behind his teammate, Christopher Bell, at Phoenix Raceway. This was one of the closest finishes in Phoenix Raceway history, and Hamlin was on the wrong end of it. Bell, meanwhile, became the first driver to win three consecutive races in the Next-Gen era, driving with the same equipment as Hamlin, so it’s understandable why the latter was so frustrated.

As the dust settled, Hamlin’s reaction revealed more than just a momentary outburst. He reflected on what he could have done differently and pointed out two key factors that kept him away from victory lane for the 29th time in a row.

Denny Hamlin blames himself

On his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin revealed his lingering frustration wasn’t just about losing. It was about not doing enough to win. Reflecting on the final lap, Hamlin admitted, “I think I’m more mad at myself than anything to, you know, not do the things I needed to do to finish it.” Hamlin’s regret stemmed from his decision in Turn 3, where he was a foot ahead of Christopher Bell.

He could have taken a more aggressive line and made it harder for Bell to pass him. “Could I have gone in in turn three since I was a foot ahead… I’m going to run you down till your left side tires are on the apron there?” Hamlin explained his missed opportunity. Had he done so, he believed it would have killed Bell’s momentum.

Bell would’ve then needed to either back off or risk sliding up the track, ultimately handing Hamlin the advantage at the exit of Turn 4. By pinning Bell’s car low on the apron, Hamlin could have forced him to lose grip, preventing him from making the clean pass. However, Hamlin’s decision to race clean ultimately gave Bell the upper hand.

“He wouldn’t have had the leverage to… use me to go up the racetrack… I don’t think he did anything dirty. Did he do me any favors? No,” added Hamlin. Entering Turn 4, Bell slid his teammate up the racetrack, and Hamlin lamented allowing him to do that. The veteran felt if he just stayed at his bumper on Turn 3 and prevented him from taking the inside line, he might have had a better shot. But why the inside line? Well, it all circles back to the Next-Gen car, according to Hamlin.

“I’ve had that choice before and I did the same thing… You got tremendous leverage in these Next-gen cars when you’re on the bottom. So I think he just used it to his advantage and it sucked that I was on the other end of it.” Christopher Bell seems to have perfected the art of using the Next-Gen car to the best of its abilities. Be it taking the high line at Atlanta to stay ahead in a three-wide with Carson Hocevar and Kyle Larson. Using a tire strategy to the Circuit of The Americas road course to beat Kyle Busch. And now, using the inside line at a flat oval to run Hamlin up the track and take the win.

Hamlin’s competitive spirit is fueled by his desire to break his current winless streak, which has reached 29 races. Bell, on the other hand, has three consecutive wins in the 2025 season. This makes him the first driver since Kyle Larson in 2021 to achieve the feat. Hamlin has earlier expressed frustration about losing to teammates, saying, “There is nobody I hate seeing win more than my teammate”.

Hamlin’s action of avoiding an incident at Phoenix comes as a surprise as the No.11 driver is often associated with aggressive driving with little to no regard for the other driver. For example, in the 2017 playoff race at Martinsville, Hamlin bumped Chase Elliott, causing Elliott to spin out. Additionally, at Pocono in 2023, Hamlin made contact with Kyle Larson, impacting Larson’s chances of winning.

These instances demonstrate Denny Hamlin‘s aggressive driving style, which contrasts with his more cautious approach at Phoenix. However, the fundamental difference is that Bell is his teammate, and no matter how much Hamlin hates losing, he wouldn’t go as far as to wreck his teammate for no good reason.

As the season progresses, it will be interesting to see if Hamlin adjusts his strategy to secure more wins, balancing his competitive drive with the need to maintain a clean racing image.

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Hamlin weighs in on Goodyear’s option tires

At Phoenix Raceway, the introduction of a softer option tire aimed to enhance racing by promoting tire wear and creating passing opportunities. Hamlin praised this initiative, stating, “I can’t think of a short track or a mile or less track that these tires couldn’t go and race at next week.” The #11 JGR driver has long been a supporter of softer tires with more wear, as the Next-Gen cars are already so powerful that tire wear is needed to create that balance of speed and strategy. And we saw that at Phoenix!

We had drivers like Zane Smith securing his first top-10 finish of the season and Chris Buescher securing his first top five. While Hamlin is certainly pleased that the softer tires are back in the scene, he did lament the fact that they were still optional. He added, “I don’t know. I’m just too old school to tell you that I want options for tires. It’s just another way that the best car will not win.” Hamlin wants these tires to be the main tire and not the option. Something that NASCAR is also looking to do for the Championship race at Phoenix.

The reason that the option tires were tested out here is to make them the primary tire for the Championship race. Reflecting on the racing at Phoenix, Mark Keto, NASCAR Goodyear Project Manager, said, “Everything went according to plan at Phoenix, and the Option tire worked very well. It gave teams a chance to vary their strategies as to when to use them and maximize their effectiveness to gain track position over teams that were out on the prime tires.” 

So, while Hamlin laments losing to his teammate yet again, he doesn’t blame Bell. And while he loves the softer tire compound, he doesn’t want it to be optional! So what do you think? Will Hamlin eventually get the better of Bell this season? Will Goodyear bring out this tire in Phoenix for the Championship race? Let us know in the comments!