Hamlin’s NASCAR championship dreams crushed by race-changing caution

Denny Hamlin could see the finish line; only three laps remained from finally, FINALLY realizing 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 nearly a 3-second lead over his closest pursuer in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. And then a caution flag flew.

Fellow championship contender William Byron slammed into the Turn 4 wall when his right front tire went down, bringing out the yellow and sending nearly every car to pit road for fresh 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 took just two tires on his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and that made all the difference. Because of the faster pit stop, Larson restarted fifth and Hamlin 10th.

With just a two-lap overtime shootout facing the drivers, those positions mattered a lot. So did the Championship Race format, where a title could be secured without winning the race, just finishing better than the other three final four drivers.

In the end, Larson didn’t win the race – that honor went 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 to Hamlin, a future Hall of Famer, who remains the ‘Best Driver to Never Win a Championship.’

“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. Suck it up and it’s just another year.”

But this year may have been the 44-year-old’s best opportunity of his long, illustrious career. His 60 career wins rank 10th on NASCAR’s all-time list. He led the Cup Series with sixth wins 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.

“Nothing I can do different. Prepared as good as I could coming into the weekend,” a clearly disappointed Hamlin said. “My team gave me a fantastic car. Just didn’t work out. I was just praying that no caution. Had one there. What can you do? Just not meant to be.

“We took four tires. I thought that definitely was the right call. Just so many cars took two there. Obviously put us back. Team did a fantastic job. They prepared a championship car. Just didn’t happen.”

Hamlin entered the championship race as the sentimental favorite, despite occasionally leaning into a “villain” role as he embraced the boos from some fans throughout the season. The boos could be heard during driver introductions Sunday but so could the cheers as the fans at the Avondale, Arizona, racetrack understood that Hamlin could finally capture the one item missing from his distinguished résumé.

And now Hamlin, his team, and NASCAR fans will be left to ponder if Hamlin will get another chance to win a championship.

“I’ll try,” Hamlin said when he asked if he could do this again. “I got a couple more shots at it. Man, if you can’t win that one, I don’t know which one you can win.”