Could Denny Hamlin have bagged his fourth win of the season at Kansas Speedway last Sunday? Well, if you are to look back at the race, the late caution flagged off by Kyle Busch’s accident perhaps cost Hamlin dearly. Although he was running low on fuel, he might have made it to the checkered flag, as there were just 7 laps to go when the caution was out.

With the caution in play, the race was put into overtime and Hamlin had to rethink his strategy on the restart. His team needed to make a big call to keep the No. 11 car in the lead. Chris Gabehart, in a desperate attempt, made a bang-bang call to go only with two tire changes instead of all four. And going by Hamlin’s radio chatter, he wasn’t too thrilled about this strategy.

Gabehart had to make the hard call during the final pit stop at Kansas

One of the key factors in play at the mile-and-a-half racetrack in Kansas was tire wear. The JGR star was among the few who hit the pit road early in the final stage. However, forced to make a quick strategy call, Hamlin was only given two tires on the final pit stop.

Explaining the whole situation, Gabehart on the radio explained to Hamlin the quick two-tire pit stop in their code language. “That’s a lot of tire wear bud. But it’s going to be a green-white-checkered. I think the call is, vegetables.” Frustrated with the situation and unimpressed by the call, Hamlin replied, “Ugh, Okay.”

Perhaps he was aware of the fact that despite the desperate measures, he might have lost his best shot at winning the event. The key difference that was easily identifiable during the whole event was that the No. 11 car was good for long runs. Whereas the chasing pack, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Martin Turex Jr, were good on short runs, which put Hamlin at a disadvantage, despite controlling the restart.

Well, his fear did come true as soon as the race got back to green. Larson made an aggressive move to the inside of the track. This forced the JGR star to take the middle lane, but he found himself in the middle of two race cars against the side draft. As soon as they came to the end of the first turn, Hamlin was out of contention for the win. However, he could have prevented Larson’s charge had he made a wise call by choosing the outside lane for the restart.

Denny Hamlin accepts his mistake that cost him the win at Kansas Speedway

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Kyle Larson and Hamlin share quite a history of competing for the win at Kansas. During the spring event last year, it was the latter who snatched the win from the HMS star on the final lap. Therefore, this was a sort of redemption race for Larson and perhaps the right opportunity to get back at his rival. Not to forget, the two had been in a fierce battle in the race at Dover, where Hamlin used aero-blocking tactics to grab his third win.

Despite being in the lead, he was feeling the nerves and looking to avoid confrontation with Larson. But his choice of lane during the restart invited the driver of the No. 5 car to get back at him and deliver the payback. “Certainly there was one Daytona 500, back in 2017 that I had control of the green-white-checkered and chose the wrong lane. Certainly, I chose the wrong lane this time as well… When he (Larson) lined up behind me, I did not like it at all. Because I knew he was not going to push for a very long time. Certainly not in an extended period of time.” Hamlin said via the Actions Detrimental podcast.

The Larson-Hamlin rivalry is brewing up really well in 2024. And given how the recent encounters have resulted in blockbuster finishes, fans would only like to see more of them going at each other in future races.