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WATCH: Denny Hamlin Hits the Wall and Loses His Lead Late in Kansas NASCAR Cup Series Race

Published 05/04/2021, 1:10 PM EDT

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USA Today via Reuters

Poor old Denny Hamlin cannot seem to catch a break. The #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver was primed for a race win, when disaster struck. With 25 laps to go, Hamlin was leading from Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch. Larson’s #5 Hendrick Motorsports car was hunting Hamlin down, when the latter inexplicably brushed the wall.

The brush resulted in a massive loss of momentum, and Larson pounced for the race lead. It got worse for the championship leader when his own teammate, Kyle Busch overtook him as well. Many suspected that the #11 car simply understeered and poor old Hamlin was helpless to stop the contact.

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To add insult to injury, the right front tyre eventually gave up and went flat. This was because he hit the wall a second time while chasing after Busch. In the end, all he could do was limp back to the pit lane for repairs and he eventually finished 12th.

Denny Hamlin is still leading the championship

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Of course, the 12th place finish meant that his consistent Top 5 run is over. Despite this, he is still in the championship lead. It is the lowest he has ever finished this season, not counting his disastrous run at Talladega that saw him crash and finish all the way down in 32nd.

USA Today via Reuters

Meanwhile, Martin Truex Jr is still in second place after a 6th place finish, though he is almost 100 points away. While all that was going on, Kyle Busch became the 10th different winner in the NASCAR Cup Series. In the process, he kept up his win streak to 17 consecutive years with a Cup Series win.

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He is now tied with David Pearson and one behind Richard Petty for the record of most consecutive seasons with a win. On a different note, Busch is hanging around on the edge of the Top 10 after his maiden win of the 2021 season.

NASCAR Cup Series 2021 Buschy McBusch Race 400 at Kansas: Preview and Prediction

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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