Denny Hamlin set the pace at Kansas Speedway, leading 159 of 273 laps and sweeping both opening stages after rolling off second on the grid. But when push came to shove on the final restart, the win slipped through his fingers. Wrestling a car with no power steering, Hamlin forced his way under Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota down the backstretch.
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The move sent Wallace into the wall, diverted both Toyotas, and cracked the door wide open for Chase Elliott. The #9 HMS driver wasted no time in barging through.
Elliott darted to the inside and powered his Hendrick Chevrolet straight to victory lane, winning his second race of the season and a spot in the Round of 8. Hamlin trailed by a whisker, just 0.069 seconds, falling short of the milestone 60th Cup win that would have tied Kevin Harvick and placed him among the sport’s top 10 all-time winners.
Hamlin cut a dejected figure afterward. “Just super disappointing. Obviously, I wanted it badly. It would have been 60 for me,” he admitted, while praising his No. 11 crew for giving him the speed to dominate.
He acknowledged he got the restart he needed, but simply couldn’t finish the job in the final corner. Tight contact with Wallace sealed their fate, leaving the win for Elliott.
Jeff Gordon, a man who knows the agony of missed chances, sympathized with Hamlin. “I can’t remember many of the ones I won, but I can tell you all the ones I lost. Those decisions haunt you, mis-shifts and bad choices on restarts, and whatever it might be, especially if it was on your watch or in your hands.”
“I don’t know what was going to happen there if Denny wrapped the bottom instead of kind of using Bubba up, but I still think Chase had a great shot at it because of the new tires and the run he had going into three. Yeah, Denny’s having a great year. He signed a new contract. I don’t think he’s done winning,” he added.
Still, Gordon recognized Hamlin’s frustration. When a driver dominates a race, only for cautions to reshuffle the deck, the sting lingers. But as Hendrick’s vice chairman pointed out, the No. 11 has speed, depth, and opportunities ahead. And Gordon said, the way that team is running right now, he’s going to get more shots very soon.
