Denny Hamlin was able to see the finish line. With only three laps left to go, he finally achieved his championship dreams.
And then, in the blink of an eye, everything changed.
After 20 full-time seasons and 60 race wins, Hamlin was moments away from his first title, holding a nearly 3-second lead over his closest pursuers in the race. 2025 nascar cup series championship race At Phoenix Raceway. Then the warning flag was raised.
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Fellow championship contender William Byron crashed into the Turn 4 wall when his right-front tire failed, triggering a yellow and sending nearly every car out on the road for new tires with Hamlin leading the field.
Hamlin’s crew changed all four tires on his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, but fellow Championship 4 driver Kyle Larson only took two tires on his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and that made the difference. Due to the quicker stop, Larson restarted fifth and Hamlin tenth.
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With only two laps to go in the penalty shootout against the drivers, those situations mattered a lot. The same applies to the race championship format, where the title can be secured without winning the race, as he finished better than the other three drivers.
in the end, Larson did not win the race, with that honor going to 2023 NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney — but he did enough to hold off Hamlin, who had the dominant car throughout the 319-lap season finale.
It was a crushing blow for Hamlin, a future Hall of Famer who remains “the best driver to never win a championship.”
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conclusion: Larson wins 2025 NASCAR championship; Blaney wins the race
Denny Hamlin reacts after the NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway on November 2, 2025.
“Just numb,” Hamlin said after the race. “I feel like there’s still some racing left. I can’t believe it’s over but there’s nothing I can do. Enjoy it and it’ll just be another year.”
But this year was perhaps the 44-year-old’s best chance of his long and illustrious career. His 60 career wins rank 10th on NASCAR’s all-time list. He led the Cup Series with his sixth win of 2025. He started on the pole Sunday. He had the fastest car all day – not just among the Championship 4 drivers but the entire field.
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“There’s nothing I could have done differently. I’ve prepared as well as I can for the weekend,” said a visibly frustrated Hamlin. “My team gave me a great car. But it didn’t work out. I was praying there wouldn’t be any caution. I had one there. What can you do? It wasn’t meant to be.”
“We took four tires. I thought that was definitely the right decision. A lot of cars took two there. Obviously the team got us back. The team did a great job. They prepared the championship car. But it didn’t happen.”
Hamlin entered the championship race as the emotional favorite, though he sometimes tended to the “villain” role as he embraced booing from some fans throughout the season. Boos could be heard during Sunday’s driver introduction, but so could cheers as fans at Arizona’s Avondale Raceway realized Hamlin could finally pick up the one item missing from his stellar resume.
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Now Hamlin, his team and NASCAR fans will be left to ponder whether Hamlin will get another chance to win the championship.
“I’ll try,” Hamlin said when asked if he could do it again. “I’ve got a few more shots. Man, if you can’t win this time, I don’t know which one you can win.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Denny Hamlin crushed the results of the NASCAR championship race, and Larson won
