Kyle Larson didn’t lead one lap in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday. That factor didn’t matter because he beat Denny Hamlin to the line to claim his second NCS championship in a compelling overtime finish.
Hamlin had more than a three second lead with three laps remaining when fellow contender William Byron went into the outside wall when his right front tire went down. The caution waved and Hamlin headed to pit road to put four fresh tires on his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Larson took two right side tires, as did five other competitors. This put Hamlin inside Row 5 for the overtime restart. Larson in the No. 5 Rick Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet lined up sixth for the green, white and checkered finish on two fresh right-side tires. The left side tires had been on since lap 252.
When the checkered flag waved it was Ryan Blaney taking the race victory and Larson the championship with a third-place finish. Hamlin took sixth place after leading a race high 208 laps, leaving him to lament another missed championship opportunity.
Larson in Disbelief
Larson pitted under caution on lap 281 when JJ Yeley brought out the caution with wheel problems. Crew chief Cliff Daniels called Larson to pit road and took only two right side Goodyears.
It was on this restart Larson paid close attention to how his Chevrolet handled, and kept it in mind for later.
“Honestly, I can’t really believe it,” Larson shared after claiming the championship. “We didn’t lead a lap today and somehow won the championship. I’m speechless, can’t believe it.
“We had an average car at best, we had the right front go down and lost a lap. Got saved by the caution and did the wave around.
“We took two tires and I thought, ‘oh God, here we go, we’re going to go a lap down.’ It had a lot more grip than I anticipated. We got lucky with that final caution and I was hoping we were going to take two again because I learned a lot on that prior caution.
“I drove hard into Turns 1 & 2 and I thought I could do the same thing if we got another opportunity.”
And, he did just that turning it into another title for himself and owner Rick Hendrick.
Hamlin’s Hopes Dashed…Again
Hamlin ended his 20th NCS season with six victories and was poised to claim his first elusive championship. Taking four tires on the final stop, while others took two right sides, left him in a precarious position on the final restart.
As the No. 5 of Larson vaulted forward, Hamlin got caught behind other cars and was only able to manage the sixth-place finish. A visibly disappointed Hamlin tried to sum up his day as best he could afterwards.
“Yeah, nothing I can do different,” he said on pit road. “Prepared as good as I could coming into the weekend. My team gave me a fantastic car, just didn’t work out. I was just praying that no caution. Had one there. What can you do? Just not meant to be.
“We took four tires, I thought that definitely was the right call. Just so many cars took two there. Obviously put us back, the team did a fantastic job. They prepared a championship car, just didn’t happen.
“I got a couple more shots at it. Man, if you can’t win that one, I don’t know which one you can win. Just numb. I feel like there’s still some racing left. I can’t believe it’s over, but there’s nothing I can do. Suck it up and it’s just another year.
“It was a championship winning car. Just had everything we needed, just needed 40 more seconds of green flag.”
Championship contender Chase Briscoe suffered two tire incidents and ended his bid in 18th place, Byron was credited with 33rd.
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