Denny Hamlin had the kind of golden opportunity championship contenders dream about, starting from the pole with one of the fastest cars at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. Instead, what should have been a statement win turned into a brutal collapse, leaving Hamlin a crushing 40 points behind Kyle Larson with just five races left. This wasn’t just a missed chance; it was one of the biggest missed opportunities of his entire Chase.
From Pole Position to Pure Frustration
Hamlin’s day started strong. He absolutely owned the pole position, and his No. 11 Toyota was flying early on. You could feel the momentum building, especially with NASCAR Chase leader Kyle Larson struggling, even going a lap down and scoring only one stage point for most of the afternoon. The door was wide open for Hamlin to slash that deficit. But then, disaster struck. After losing some track position when he pitted during the Zane Smith caution, Hamlin had worked his way back to fourth late in Stage 1. That’s when he spun. While he managed to keep the car off the wall, NASCAR let the stage finish under green, dropping Hamlin to 28th instead of fourth and costing him seven potential stage points right there. The damage from that spin was a huge problem too. Hamlin later told his team the car was “[expletive] awful,” suspecting something was seriously hurt. To cap it all off, he even lost power coming to the final stage restart, tumbling 13 positions and throwing him right back into traffic. Crew chief Chris Gayle summed it up perfectly, calling it a “reality check” and urging Hamlin to “maximize everything we have here for the remainder of the race.” By then, winning was out the window; they were just trying to salvage *anything*.
Larson’s Comeback Rubs Salt in the Wound
What makes Hamlin’s Vegas nightmare even more painful? Watching Kyle Larson pull off a miracle. Larson, who was supposed to be vulnerable, finished Stage 1 in 23rd and went a lap down early. He looked like he was in real trouble. But the No. 5 team just kept digging, kept fighting, and incredibly, Larson worked his way back into contention, even challenging Chase Briscoe for the victory in the closing laps. Briscoe held him off, but Larson’s second-place finish transformed what should have been a damaging day for him into a massive championship gain. Joe Gibbs put Hamlin’s situation into perspective afterward, saying, “That we’re 40 points back is pretty miraculous when you consider all the things that happened these first five races.” Ouch.
Hamlin isn’t throwing in the towel yet, though. Not with five races still to go. His focus is already locked on Charlotte. He’s expecting the No. 11 team to have another real shot there. “Charlotte will be good for us,” Hamlin said, clearly looking past the Vegas heartbreak. “Today certainly didn’t live up to what we expected.” It sure didn’t. And that 40-point gap? It’s going to loom large as the Chase heads to Charlotte.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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