“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, others could not do much of anything. Goodyear’s tires did not work out, and Rick Hendrick’s drivers did not do much—as Denny Hamlin claims.

The No. 11 Toyota gave a solid effort of his own, advancing to the next round. However, he cannot help but observe the lack of effort on the part of Rick Hendrick’s drivers. Accumulating points and staying above the cutline seemed to have been their goal, and Hamlin objected to that.

Denny Hamlin is annoyed at the Hendrick boys

Well, 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 was 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. But that also allowed his teammates to comfortably advance and not ‘push’ too much, as Denny Hamlin claimed.

And the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is miffed. In a recent episode of ‘Actions Detrimental’, Denny Hamlin took names. “William Byron, Alex Bowman…we’re happy, we’re running 10th, 7th…But they were not gonna push it.” Then Hamlin tried to get inside the shoes of the Hendrick drivers. “William Byron could go get a tenth of raw speed if he wants to push it. And at that point a tenth, he could get himself 4-5 spots. And if he’s doing this over a 10-race period, he’s gonna value that more. But if he knows that all I got to do is move up and all this gets reset, I’ll just finish where I need to finish.” After firing off at third, Byron gathered six stage points and settled for the 17th. Bowman started 1st but was content gathering 13 points and finishing 9th.

Then again, observing that this points battle was all that delivered Kyle Larson the win is bold. Denny Hamlin admitted that: “That would be a strong accusation to make.” Other cars made that extra effort: “You have to push every inch which means getting up closer to the wall…I think 10 guys managed the risk to just get through – the 45, 20th.” He added, “You’re only gonna see this wild drama of cars pushing from about 4 to 5 guys at every cutline. The rest are just – you know it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re gonna get your points reset anyway.”

Nevertheless, the JGR star and his team could not help but concede that Kyle Larson had the most powerful car.

“best driver on that day” – Kyle Larson’s glory is true

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Well, Rick Hendrick’s topmost star may be on the way to a second championship again. Although delivering his fifth win came amidst Goodyear’s failure in Bristol, nobody doubts Kyle Larson‘s prowess. Sweeping all three stages and most of the race, he set a new HMS record for most laps led. He also beat Kyle Busch’s 400-lap record at Bristol, last set in 2008. So Denny Hamlin could not help but admit: “I think…they were just the best car, best driver on that day.” Even the No. 11 crew chief Chris Gabehart tipped his hat, despite losing in their ‘house’. “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.”

Larson is now in the top 30 on the all-time wins list, tied with Carl Edwards and Rex White with 28. After the race, he let the giddy emotions flow through him as he hailed his team. “Man, that was just great execution all weekend by the team,” Larson said. “Practiced good, you’ve got to qualify good, we did that, and yeah, just had a great car. Thanks to the whole (number) five team, you’re the best in the business and we dominate a lot of races, but we might not close them all out, so it was really good to close one out in this HendrickCars.com Chevy.”

Evidently, we might see Rick Hendrick as the happiest man in the NASCAR Cup Series garage by the end of 2024. For now, let us wait and see how the Round of 12 progresses.