KANSAS CITY, Kan. — His voice weary and his spirit crushed, Denny Hamlin tried to come to grips with what he had lost on the final lap Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
“Just massive disappointment,” Hamlin said.
Gone was a chance to win his 60th career Cup race — a long-sought goal — and advance to the next round of the playoffs.
“I’m thinking all race, it’s just our race,” Hamlin said.
Until it wasn’t. A power steering issue. A slow pit stop. A duel with one of his team cars. It all led to Chase Elliott celebrating a win by .069 seconds and Hamlin lamenting a runner-up finish.
NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver outdueled Denny Hamlin’s dominant car for the victory.
“What was on my mind was winning 60,” Hamlin said. “That was it.”
He considers 60 career Cup victories the new gold standard in this ultra-competitive era. He would have been the second active driver to reach that mark, joining Kyle Busch, who has 63 career victories. Next among active drivers is Joey Logano with 37 career Cup victories.
To even have a chance at 60, Hamlin had to overcome various obstacles on a day he had the dominant car, leading 159 of the 273 laps.
Hamlin wanted win No. 60 ‘a little too hard’
Denny Hamlin gave it all he had to claim his 60th Cup Series win, but he “couldn’t finish it” exiting Turn 4 after getting tight with Bubba Wallace, opening the door for Chase Elliott to win.
Problems begin about 50 laps from the finish when Hamlin reported that his power steering was failing.
“I don’t know what to do,” Hamlin radioed a couple of laps later under caution while leading. “I can’t (expletive) believe it.”
Crew chief Chris Gayle responded: “I got you. You’re just going to do all you can here to get the best finish so we don’t have ourselves in a bad spot next week (for the elimination race at the Charlotte Roval). That’s all you can do.”
NASCAR’s most popular driver went from 10th to first on the final restart to beat Denny Hamlin.
A few moments later, Hamlin, who had clutch issues ruin his race at Kansas in May, lamented: “Every year. Every … year.”
He led up to Lap 255 of what was to be a 267-lap race before going to double overtime.
A debris caution sent the leaders to pit road. Hamlin was in his first race with two new pit crew members. A tire came off Hamlin’s car at Bristol, leading to a two-race suspension for a tire changer and the jackman. The Joe Gibbs Racing team deferred the penalty a week, meaning the suspensions started this weekend and will continue next weekend at the Charlotte Roval.
Denny Hamlin came up short of his 60th victory despite leading a race-high 159 laps.
Hamlin’s pit stops all day had been solid, but the final one was slow. Nate McBride, serving as Hamlin’s jackman this week, struggled to get the jack in place to raise the car. A two-tire pit stop that took other teams only about 4-5 seconds, lasted about twice as long for Hamlin’s crew. Hamlin fell outside the top five.
“We were the best car,” Hamlin said. “We had a bad pit stop, restarted sixth.”
Even with those challenges, a couple of late cautions that pushed the race into overtime helped Hamlin rally.
He charged to second on the final lap of the second overtime.
“One to go, I’m thinking find a way to get to 60,” Hamlin said. “Obviously, not having power steering that was not ideal.”
Bubba on Kansas finish: ‘Hate we gave it to Chevy’
Bubba Wallace recaps what went down in overtime at Kansas after racing hard with Denny Hamlin, ultimately giving the win to Chase Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports.
He got to the bumper of leader Bubba Wallace — driving for the 23XI Racing team Hamlin co-owns with Michael Jordan — on the backstretch. They entered Turn 3 side-by-side but left the inside lane open.
“If I had to do it all over again,” Hamlin said, “I think I would run a little bit lower to allow a space between us so I don’t get so tight and then try to turn the wheel more.”
With the inside lane open, Elliott pounced.
“I saw (Hamlin) and (Wallace) race hard in (Turn) 3 and I thought, ‘Man, if I just stick the bottom here, I might be at least three wide with them off (Turn) 4,” Elliott said. “That’s what I was shooting for. … I just saw them running there really hard.
“My eyes went to just do the best I could to (run) the bottom as fast as I could (run) it. I really kind of quit watching them. Then I saw (Hamlin) come back down and obviously ran into him. I think he was trying to cover my run, but he was too late at that point.”
Hamlin, who received a brief embrace by Wallace after the race, was left to ponder what could have been. Even though Hamlin is 48 points above the cutline heading into next weekend — and in a good spot of advancing — the pain of missing a chance to in at the track he made his first Cup start was devastating.
“Just super disappointed,” Hamlin said, “that I couldn’t finish this one out.”
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