Denny Hamlin Publicly Concedes to Kyle Larson’s Superiority in 3-Words

Kyle Larson literally left no crumbs at the Roval. After he missed starting the Coca-Cola 600 in May, the Hendrick Motorsports star had a mission to complete. Larson undertook special preparations for the Bank of America Roval 400 race. He turned in hours of practice in simulators, which he usually does not like. Larson prepared himself to face road course aces like Shane van Gisbergen. The end result? Even his Cup rival Denny Hamlin saluted him.

NASCAR introduced reconfigured turns and chicanes at the 2.66-mile Roval back in May. Not only did Larson maneuver through them all, but he also dominated the race, leading 62 laps, including the final 33 trips around the challenging road course. This exemplary performance enthralled Denny Hamlin, although the media was busy covering the playoff eliminations.

The journey to becoming the black hat of NASCAR involved a scuffle with Kyle Larson. Denny Hamlin and the HMS star locked horns in the iconic 2023 Pocono race. He dove into Larson’s inside on Turn 1 with 10 laps to go, leaving Larson ramming into the wall and going on to win the race. The aggressive pass earned Hamlin a ton of controversy, as well as Larson’s rage. This was only one of several instances where the two have battled. However, after the Charlotte Roval race, even Hamlin was left speechless by Larson’s flawless race strategies. Denny Hamlin pointed out how Larson carefully prepared himself for the victory. Besides the No. 5 crew chief marveling at Larson overcoming his simulator peeve, the driver qualified well.

During the October 14th ‘Actions Detrimental’ episode, Hamlin lauded Larson’s preparation. “He dominated this race. I think he was really in a good position entering the day and that allowed him to keep flipping stages. He was able to qualify well, they did their job there – which then allowed them to pit and still have pretty good track position…Because he had gotten out so far through the field spread.”

Kyle Larson smoothly ran throughout the race—he pitted alongside polesitter Shane van Gisbergen in the first stage. After that, he paced himself, going slow at first, as he finished 10th in Stage 2. But stage 3 was his playtime—the HMS star dominated the race and only had Christopher Bell as a thorn in his side. But by lap 84, nobody else could challenge him—Larson won the race by 1.511 seconds over Bell. So Denny Hamlin unequivocally hailed Larson’s dominance: “The 5—they were gone.” Hamlin conceded Larson’s superiority in three words: “No real challengers.” 

Hamlin also pointed out the media’s excessive focus on the playoff situation. Yet that is no deterrent for Kyle Larson, who is sure about what his goal is.

The lack of limelight is no bother

Following the end of the Bank of America 400 race, headlines overflowed with information about eliminations. Joey Logano found himself in dismay, being 4 points below the cutline—but that was soon overturned. Alex Bowman found himself out of the playoffs as NASCAR issued a weight penalty against the No. 48 car. Hendrick Motorsports choosing not to appeal also created quite some noise—all this while, we forgot about what a stellar race Kyle Larson ran.

Denny Hamlin also observed this discrepancy, saying, “Yeah, that’s typical—TV does that. They’re gonna play into what is the drama, right? The drama is the cutline…On the last run, they were concentrating on Reddick, myself, and Logano ’cause we were the ones that were kinda near that cut.” 

The media also asked playoff leader Kyle Larson what impact his win made on the playoff situation. It definitely makes a dent in his rivals’ Championship 4 hopes, but Larson shrugged off this thought. The HMS driver is not worried about his image and is instead focused on winning.

“For myself and I think our team it’s no statements that we’re trying to send to the field. I think the field knows that we’re strong. I think the field knows that we could win at any track,” Larson explained. “It is nice to win and really more than anything just gain five more points that roll into the next round.” He also added, “I’m just excited to kind of get ourselves to the next three great tracks for us and hopefully we can make that final four.”

Evidently, Kyle Larson’s supremacy is reigning the Cup Series at present. With even his rival Denny Hamlin saluting him, who knows what more this driver can achieve?