“I Wanted It for My Dad”: Denny Hamlin Crushed Despite Second-Place Finish At Kansas

Denny Hamlin had Kansas Speedway in the palm of his hand, sweeping both stages, leading a race-high 159 laps in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and putting himself within striking distance of his 60th career Cup win. Yet, when the dust settled Sunday, he came up 0.069 seconds short of Chase Elliott after late contact with Bubba Wallace left him fuming at what might have been.

On the final restart, Hamlin muscled his way under Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota, a car fielded by his own 23XI Racing team, down the backstretch in a fight to the finish. With no power steering, he drove Wallace into the wall, stalling both cars.

Elliott seized the opening, shot past on the inside, and carried his No. 9 Hendrick Chevrolet to victory lane, punching his ticket to the Round of 8. For Wallace, the stakes were just as high. A win would have vaulted him into the next round, but instead, he faded to fifth and left Kansas 10th in points, 26 markers below the cutline.

Hamlin couldn’t mask his frustration afterward. “Just super disappointing. Obviously, I wanted it badly. You know, it would have been 60 for me, and the team just did an amazing job with the car. Just really, really fast. Gave me everything I needed. Got the restarting needed. Just couldn’t finish it there on the last corner. Obviously got really, really tight with the #23, and I just got real tight, and we let the nine win.”

That Hamlin even had a chance at win No. 60 was remarkable. With the dominant car, he ran into trouble roughly 50 laps from the end when his power steering began to fail, prompting a weary echo of his Kansas misfortune in May: “Every year. Every … year.”

Hamlin’s pit crew, solid most of the afternoon, stumbled on the final stop when substitute jackman Nate McBride struggled to get the car lifted. What should have been a four-second stop ballooned to nearly double, dropping Hamlin out of the top five.

“Yeah, just mechanical failures and different things have really hindered us in years past, and we had no power steering that last run and low voltage, just a lot of things, and just couldn’t… I’m just disappointed because I don’t think I’ve ever had a car that good to the competition. And man, I wanted it for my dad. I wanted it for everybody. Just wanted it a little too hard,” Hamlin admitted.

Sixty wins has become the 44-year-old’s gold standard. It’s the milestone he views as the new benchmark in today’s cutthroat Cup era. A victory would have made him only the second active driver to reach that plateau, joining Kyle Busch, who has 63. Next on the active list is Joey Logano, with 37.

That said, Wallace had his own axe to grind after their clash. “Two years ago, I’d probably say something dumb. I mean, he’s a dumbass for that move, for sure. I don’t care if he’s my boss or not. But we’re going for the win. I hate that we gave it to Chevrolet there. Toyotas were super fast, and proud to be driving one. I thought it was meant to be, and then it wasn’t,” Wallace said on pit road.

Now the road winds to Charlotte’s Roval, where history hasn’t been kind to the No. 11 JGR driver. With an average finish of 16.4 in seven starts and just one top five, it remains a thorn in his playoff path. Still, he sits fourth in the standings with a 48-point cushion.

A top 10 with stage points should keep him above water, though he will no doubt be gunning for more.