It has happened again. Denny Hamlin missed out on an opportunity to win the long-elusive NASCAR Cup championship. Heading into Homestead weekend, the odds were already stacked against him, and Kyle Larson didn’t have to wait long to get the confirmation that he had clinched the title at the end of Stage 1. Back-to-back defeats against Larson must be gutting for the JGR veteran, but even in defeat, he had nothing but respect for his rival.
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“We had a great year with every way you can measure; it’s been really, really good. Congrats to the 5 team; they deserve everything, the spoils of victory. They’ve performed absolutely incredible during these last 10 races. But we are extremely happy with the 36 races that we’ve put together, and it’s really tough to do in this sport,” Hamlin said in an interview with USA Sports.
10 weeks ago, nobody could imagine Larson being in the driving seat to win his third Cup Series title. The win at Gateway completely flipped the switch within the No. 5 camp, and they only made gains in the Chase. Runners-up at Bristol and Vegas, backed up by the win in Kansas. But it was the win at Talladega that truly put Larson in charge of the title, and it became a chasing game for Hamlin and JGR Toyotas.
Larson had a 67-point gap on Christopher Bell in second place. He only needed 9 points to settle the business in Miami. An engine failure on Chase Briscoe’s car late in Stage 1 did the job for Larson. Mathematically, he had clinched the title and just like that, all the hopes Hamlin and Bell had for a mishap for the #5 car ended in vain. But despite the heartbreak of losing another championship battle, Hamlin was proud of the effort his team made at Homestead.
“I’m really proud of the whole Progressive Toyota team. Made lots of gains from Friday to the race tonight and really happy with the effort we put on the race track so just for it in the end and lost it and went into the wall. Definitely wanted to try to win but that was a fun race.”
A late race spin by Daniel Suarez stacked up the field and Hamlin found himself on the outside lane challenging Byron. Bell, Hamlin, Byron, and Blaney were all making aggressive moves with 7 laps to go. Byron got swarmed on the high lane and Hamlin was on his back bumper. He had the momentum and the speed, but then he lost his focus.
With 6 laps to go, Hamlin’s No. 11 Progressive Toyota made contact with the outside wall. It wasn’t a regular brush off the wall; the veteran JGR driver had to lift to get out of the wall, giving up all the track position and momentum he had with him. He lost four positions and tried his best to finish the race.
Fortunately, Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota didn’t suffer a great deal of damage and he was able to bring it home in sixth place. Another year, and another lost opportunity for Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 team. The only positive for the Denny Bros heading into next year is that he still has one shot to complete his NASCAR story. It has all the makings of the last dance, but the championship win won’t come easy, especially with Larson lurking for another trophy.