“Really, all tonight was about was advancing and we did that, so proud of that for sure.” William Byron slipped his true intentions at Bristol after a one-man-army race. While Kyle Larson dominated the Round of 12 playoff decider for a whopping 462 out of 500 laps (most at the short track in 47 years), others could not do much of anything. Goodyear’s tires did not work out, and Rick Hendrick’s drivers did the bare minimum to get by—as Denny Hamlin claims.

The No. 11 Toyota gave a solid effort of his own, advancing to the next round with a P4 finish. However, he couldn’t help but observe the lack of effort on the part of the other Hendrick drivers. Accumulating points and staying above the cutline seemed to have been their goal, and Hamlin seemed to understand why.

The Bass Pro Shops Night Race was nothing like the Food City 500. The Spring race was thrilling, to say the least, as everybody from fans to Goodyear executives were baffled to see tremendous tire wear. Drivers were pushed to their very limits in trying to sustain their tires. However, trying to replicate that was an utter failure in the Fall—as last weekend, Kyle Larson ended up dominating. Majorly. Hamlin, on the other hand, was the only Joe Gibbs Racing driver besides Christopher Bell at P5, to make it to the next round. Both Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr were caught speeding on pit road and exited last weekend 11 points and 21 points below the cut line, respectively.

Now, that’s good news for the #11 team, but things were evidently not so hunky-dory when Hamlin made his way to Bristol. This was the same venue where the JGR veteran had won two races back to back. After last year’s night race, he had even taunted fans with the infamous quote, “I beat your favorite driver … all of them.” Then in March, he won again despite the excessive tire wear. However, this time around, the 43-year-old driver was below the cutline with a minus six and very much on his way to get eliminated had “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile” not turned out to be savory—which explains why he didn’t try to perform to his full potential. But before we get to that…

Kyle Larson entered the Bass Pro Shops Night race with a +26 points cushion, while his teammates Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman were +30 and +41 above the cutline. Bell was the top driver in the playoff standings with a +46. Remember this as you read further.

As Hamlin was navigating his way through the five-caution-filled carcasses, he only had one thing in mind: DO NOT GET ELIMINATED. In a post-race interview with NASCAR, the veteran explained why the weekend was a win despite the absence of a hat-trick: “I wish we could have won. However, having said that, we didn’t have the margin that Larson or Bell or some of those other guys had to let it all hang out here, which is what you have to do with 200 (laps) to go to win this race…At this level, you cannot give 99% — it’s not enough. So to race from a deficit and in the last 200, kind of have to not lose what you’ve earned, rather than have this big buffer to be able to risk it, that’s the difference,” which gave rise to another question…

Could Hamlin had retained his hat-trick had there not been a cutoff line hanging over his head? The driver answered this question on the recent episode of ‘Actions Detrimental’ podcast, “I don’t know…That would be a strong accusation to make. I think…they [Larson] were just the best car, best driver on that day. But about 420 – 450 (laps), I was hauling a**. At that point, I got the word that we’re good here…Just remember, you had at least 10 drivers in the field that were just happy running where they were at. This is the negative part to cut lines, eliminations when I got to top three or so. At that time, I told Chris [Gabehart], ‘Do not talk to me about points, just let me race’.”

However, that wasn’t his only distraction throughout the race as fans made sure Hamlin wasn’t let off the hook for his comments last year.

Denny Hamlin addresses his haters: “I’m an ulcer in their body”

As the Bass Pro Shops Night Race ran for 500 laps, there was one particular fan whose dedicated was through the roof. Sporting a ‘Chase Elliott’ t-shirt, the fan stood up every single time Denny Hamlin’s car passed him. Another fan noticed this, clicked a picture and took to X to reveal:

The veteran touched upon the hilarious incident on his podcast and revealed how he loves ruffling feathers: “I love making feel some sort of way. For my buddy Steelhorselive, who tweeted that ‘look at this guy that flipped off Denny every lap he came back around’. I mean, that is someone that, ‘Oh, I am just burning up. I’m an ulcer in their body that just is just eating them alive’, and I love that.” 

Having said that, Hamlin’s cocky persona days after left far behind. He has reportedly retired the “I beat your favorite driver” taunt that gave rise to his anti-hero status. Reflecting on the decision, Hamlin had said in February, “Breaking news: I’m gonna retire the ‘I beat all your favorite drivers’ because I got a text…[from] my dad. He says, ‘Son, you got to stop that. I don’t like it, it’s just too cocky’. I’m gonna listen to dad on this one…I think jokes are always funnier the first time you say it, not the second, or third, or whatever anyway. We’ll come up with something new next time around but ‘I beat you favorite driver, all of them’ is officially going to go down in the history books, it’s done.”

Now that’s something fans are definitely not going to miss. Having said that, now’s not even the time for Hamlin for reminisce on his past as the first Round of 12 race will be coming up at Kansas! Will Hamlin be able to retain his spot and ultimately win his win Cup Series championship? Let us know in the comments below!