“Don’t Know Where He’s Been”: Kyle Petty Takes Championship Favorite Tag From Denny Hamlin, Gives It to Hendrick Star

What a difference a few weeks make. Just look at what Kyle Petty had to say about Denny Hamlin at the start of this month, and what his assessment is of the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran heading into the Round of 8.

Earlier, Petty had made a big proclamation about Hamlin and his chances of winning his first-ever NASCAR Cup championship. But now, Petty has another driver as his favorite for that spot.

Kyle Petty calls out the drop of form of Denny Hamlin

After the race at Talladega, Kyle Petty said of Hamlin, “When it’s your year, it’s your year and this appears to be Denny’s year because of these little things we’re watching right now.” However, heading into Las Vegas for the Round of 8, Petty altered his stance on Hamlin a little.

This week, speaking on Motorsports on NBC, the NASCAR analyst sounded the alarm on Hamlin’s performances over the last three races, failing to figure out the reason for the #11 driver’s wayward form.

“The guy who’s momentum has slown for me is Denny Hamlin. I don’t know where he’s been the last couple of races because he was the hottest guy at the face of the earth. He was playing on the sun, that’s how hot he was,” Petty said.

He then pointed to the driver who he thought was red hot right now, which was Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron.

Petty backs William Byron to go all the way to Phoenix

Speaking about William Byron, Petty thought he had the most momentum of all the other playoff drivers heading into the Round of 8. “He’s just there, there, there, there,” Petty claimed.

“Wins a race, does everything he needs to do at the right time, seems to make good days out of bad days when he doesn’t get the stage points or run up front, doesn’t make a difference at the end of the race and that’s what it comes to at Phoenix.”

The former NASCAR driver added that it’s not about stage points in Phoenix but rather it’s about who’s there at the end. Less than two weeks ago, it was Denny Hamlin for Kyle Petty. Now it’s William Byron. Who knows who will it be in the coming races?

But then again, that’s the nature of the game.