Denny Hamlin Sends Clear Message After Costly Las Vegas Collapse
· Yahoo Sports
Denny Hamlin had exactly the kind of opportunity championship contenders spend an entire season waiting for Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
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Hamlin started from the pole with one of the fastest cars in the field, while NASCAR Chase leader Kyle Larson spent much of the afternoon fighting through trouble. Larson went a lap down and scored only one stage point, seemingly opening the door for Hamlin to take a significant bite out of his deficit.
Instead, Hamlin’s own race unraveled.
A spin late in Stage 1 left the No. 11 Toyota with damage, and what began as a potential statement afternoon ended with Hamlin finishing 17th and scoring zero stage points. Larson, meanwhile, mounted a remarkable recovery to finish second.
The result leaves Hamlin 40 points behind Larson with five races remaining, turning Vegas into one of the biggest missed opportunities of his Chase.
“There’s nothing you can do now post-race so you just have to go on to the next race. … find a way to win,” Hamlin said afterward.
Denny Hamlin’s Vegas Opportunity Disappears
Hamlin’s afternoon didn’t go sideways because the No. 11 lacked speed. He won the pole and ran near the front early before losing track position after pitting following the Zane Smith caution.
Hamlin had worked his way back to fourth late in Stage 1 when he spun. He kept the car out of the wall, but NASCAR held the caution and allowed the stage to finish under green.
Hamlin crossed the line 28th instead of fourth, costing him seven potential stage points.
The damage from the spin became another problem. Hamlin later told his team the car was “[expletive] awful” and suspected something had been hurt. He also lost power coming to the final stage restart, dropping 13 positions and putting him back in traffic.
“Just trying to get back to track position that we lost … spun out. Obviously damage to the car,” Hamlin said in his post-race interview.
Crew chief Chris Gayle eventually called the situation a “reality check on this one” and told Hamlin, “We’ve just got to maximize everything we have here for the remainder of the race.”
By then, winning was no longer the objective. The No. 11 team was trying to salvage whatever it could from an afternoon that had gotten away from it.
Kyle Larson Makes Hamlin’s Missed Chance Even More Costly
The most painful part for Hamlin may have been watching what Larson did with his own difficult afternoon.
Larson finished Stage 1 in 23rd, went a lap down and looked vulnerable for much of the race. But the No. 5 team kept working its way back, eventually putting Larson in position to challenge Chase Briscoe for the victory in the closing laps.
Briscoe held him off, but Larson’s second-place finish transformed what could have been a damaging points day into a significant championship gain.
Joe Gibbs put Hamlin’s current position into perspective afterward.
“That we’re 40 points back is pretty miraculous when you consider all the things that happened these first five races,” Gibbs said.
Hamlin isn’t conceding anything with five races still ahead. His attention has already shifted to Charlotte, where he expects the No. 11 team to have another opportunity.
“Charlotte will be good for us,” Hamlin said. “Today certainly didn’t live up to what we expected.”
Vegas didn’t. More importantly, Larson gave Hamlin an opening and still managed to leave with an even larger advantage.
Now Hamlin knows exactly what he needs to do with the opportunities that remain: find a way to win.