Denny Hamlin was three laps away from the biggest win of his career – and then ten laps later (including 10 laps of an overtime period), it all fell apart to the most devastating loss he’s ever suffered.

In the fifth Championship Four edition of his 21 years in the Cup Series, Hamlin did everything he needed to do to win, including leading a race-high 208 laps.

Even Kyle Larson, who ultimately stole the title away from Hamlin, said the No. 11 Toyota ran a “perfect” race.

But while Hamlin may have run a perfect race, the finish was far from it. Larson finished third in the extended overtime stanza behind race winner Ryan Blaney and runner-up Brad Keselowski, while Hamlin finished a devastating sixth.

“I really don’t have much for emotion right now,” Hamlin said in his somber post-race press conference. “Just numb about it because I’m just in shock.

“We’re 40 seconds from a championship. It’s just unfortunate. … Gosh, you work so hard. This sport can drive you absolutely crazy ’cause sometimes speed, talent, all that stuff, just does not matter.”

Trying to recoup his emotions, Hamlin even tried to interject a bit of humor in his post-race comments, but those definitely had to be bittersweet words coming through a clenched smile

“Golly, in this moment, I never want to race a car ever again,” Hamlin said. “I mean, my fun meter is pegged.”

Questions remain on how Hamlin lost a championship that should have been his

How Hamlin lost the 721 start of his 21-year Cup career will be debated for a long time

Was crew chief Chris Gale, in his first year atop the pit box with Hamlin, wrong in going for four tires on the final pit stop when Larson only took two?

Should Hamlin have stayed on a low line in the last two laps to potentially gain some valuable ground on Larson, which could have wound up with a totally different outcome?

Was Larson, who earned his second career Cup championship to go along with his first in 2021, a deserving champion?

After all the criticism NASCAR took following two-time winner Jesse Love beating 10-time winner Connor Zilisch for the Xfinity Series championship on Saturday, how Larson won is likely not going to sit well not only with Hamlin fans, but NASCAR fans in general – except, of course, fans of Larson and Hendrick Motorsports.

That’s why it’ll behoove NASCAR to come up with a new format for next season, as both Love and Larson’s titles will not exactly be looked upon as legitimate by many.

“Kyle Larson has the trophy, but we dominated,” Hamlin said. “We did our job. We did the best we could. They’re a championship team and a championship driver.

“They’re going to win a hell of a lot more than just these two. When everyone had to bring their best, I think it was evident who was the best today.”

Hamlin likely will receive sympathy from even his non-fans

Even if you aren’t a Hamlin fan, you can’t help but feel sympathy for him, from both a competitive and personal nature. Of the latter, his father Dennis is seriously ill from an undisclosed disease, too ill to come to Phoenix, and Hamlin said Sunday’s race potentially could be the last race his father will ever watch his son compete in.

Hamlin dedicated Sunday’s race not only to his father, but also to the late JD Gibbs, son of team owner Joe Gibbs, who discovered Hamlin nearly 25 years ago as a raw but promising talent driving in short track races on the East Coast. Hamlin even named his first son, born earlier this year, after the younger Gibbs.

Even though Hamlin has 60 career Cup wins, he didn’t necessarily need to win Sunday’s race. He just needed to finish one spot ahead of his three Championship 4 contenders: Larson, William Byron, and Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Chase Briscoe.

In a sense, Hamlin has become his generation’s Mark Martin. The NASCAR Hall of Famer finished runner-up to the championship five times in his Cup career. Ironically, Martin’s last season – 2013 – was the last before the Cup playoff format was expanded to four rounds and 16 drivers.

Hamlin has now reached the Championship Four five times, and Sunday was the first time he finished second. He also finished second in 2010, before the format was expanded.

Hamlin was stunned after pulling his car to the pit road

While Larson was jumping up and down, celebrating with his team and family on the frontstretch before moving the party to Victory Lane, where he accepted his second Bill France Trophy, Hamlin was left in silence to collect his thoughts.

NBC cameras caught Hamlin sitting alone in his car for several minutes, a look of utter disbelief on his face. He was stunned, perhaps more so than he ever had been in his racing career.

To have the one thing he’s never earned in his Cup tenure to be taken away from him so close to the finish line, you couldn’t help but shed tears for Hamlin, just as he shed tears pre-race when he was interviewed and asked about his father.

Although his daughters cried their eyes out after the race, there were no tears from Hamlin, at least none that were shed publicly. He is to be commended for holding it all together when he patiently answered the questions that were posed to him.

“(There was) nothing I can do different,” Hamlin said of the outcome. “Prepared as good as I could coming into the weekend. My team gave me a fantastic car. It just didn’t work out. I was just praying that no caution (and then) had one there.

“What can you do? Just was not meant to be.”

Making things even more difficult to handle emotionally was the fact that Larson didn’t even lead one lap in the race, yet walked away with a seven-figure championship check and the trophy.

Hamlin enjoyed one of his most successful seasons this year, earning a series-high six wins, third-most of his career. The fact that he turns 44 years old on November 18 is not lost on him when he was asked if he could return to the Championship 4 next season and finally win that elusive first Cup crown.

“I’ll try,” Hamlin said with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “I’ve got a couple more shots at it.”

But Could Hamlin Chuck It All And Abruptly Call It a Career?

He’s under contract to JGR through the 2027 season before he either calls it a career or potentially finishes with one season with the Cup team he co-owns with NBA legend Michael Jordan, 23XI Racing.

But one has to wonder if Hamlin potentially may do what former teammate Carl Edwards did after the 2016 season: he walked away and retired shortly after losing the championship to Jimmie Johnson.

The Chesterfield, Virginia, native is also realistic. What happened Sunday could potentially be his last good chance at winning the Cup crown.

“Man, if you can’t win that one, I don’t know which one you can win,” Hamlin said with dejection.

To his credit, William Byron empathized with the outcome for Hamlin. They had a great battle, with each running within one position of each other for more than 30% of the race, before Byron’s incident with three laps left in regulation after a tire blew out and he clipped the outside retaining wall.

“I hate that, hate it for Denny, I hate it for the 11 team,” Byron said. “I mean, Denny was on his way to it. I hate that.”

Given Hamlin’s emotional tribute to his father in a prerace NBC interview, he was asked after the race what he’ll tell his father when he sees him upon his return from Phoenix.

“I did the best I could,” Hamlin said. “Everything I really prepared for happened today. I felt like we responded. … The team brought a great championship car. I felt like I drove it just right up until two laps to go. This is the part that stinks.”

Not taking anything away from Larson’s crown, but in a sense a Hamlin championship would have been exactly the kind of storyline that NASCAR needed in a season that has seen significant fan criticism – particularly with the playoff format – and reduced at-track attendance and lower TV ratings, not to mention the bitter lawsuit between NASCAR and 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are mired in.

NASCAR is reportedly planning on changing the current playoff format for next season, but particularly for Hamlin, it will be too little, too late.