HOMESTEAD, Fla.: Carrying momentum from his clutch win at ISM (Ariz.) Raceway last weekend, Denny Hamlin came to Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway as perhaps the favorite to win his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.
However, during Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400, Hamlin and his No. 11 FedEx Toyota team failed to be a dominating factor in the season finale. Throughout the first two stages of the race, Hamlin struggled with the handling of his race car – keeping him on the outside looking in.
A great pit stop at the end of Stage 2 put the Chesterfield, Virginia native fourth on the restart, but a brilliant restart from the six-time winner this season saw him swipe the lead from Kyle Busch – giving briefly a moment of hope that Hamlin’s night was finally going in the right direction.
However, Busch passed him back two laps.
Staying within a fighting chance of the leaders throughout Stage 3, Hamlin exited his final pit stop second amongst the Championship 4 Playoff contenders, but as the laps dwindled, Hamlin radioed crew chief Chris Gabehart that his water temperature was spiking, and water began to spew out of the overflow.
Trying to hang on for a quick caution, Hamlin left the decision up to Gabehart on whether to pit or stay out. A few laps later, he called his driver to pit road where the team pitted for tires, fuel and pulled the tape off the front grille.
The temperatures quickly came down, but the damage had been done. Trapped a lap down, Hamlin was able to unlap himself from leader and eventual Cup Series champion Kyle Busch.
Hoping for a caution for an opportunity to make a late-race surge, the yellow flag never flew in the third stage going green for 101 laps to the finish with Hamlin having to settle for 10th when the checkered flag waved.
“I feel like I did all I could,” said Hamlin after the race. “I mean, I don’t think I could have done a better job. I don’t think I could have I didn’t leave anything out there. So, for the first half of the race we just weren’t fast enough, we weren’t handling very good, and all of a sudden it went nighttime and we took off, and suddenly I perked up and got a little more and was thinking that we’ve got a chance.
“Then just didn’t work out. Definitely, like I said, last week, I was going to come in here and do the best I could and live with the result either way. I definitely feel like I couldn’t have done anything different.”
Hamlin said Gabehart’s decision to get forceful in Stage 3 to try and put themselves in the hunt to hoist the Championship trophy backfired – but that’s part of the gamble when it comes to going for a championship.
“Certainly, we got a little aggressive there, and it cost us, but I mean, he’s (Chris Gabehart) also been really aggressive and won us races, too. It’s just he’s going for it. He saw an opportunity there to really add some speed to the car, and it just didn’t work out.
“I don’t think it’s a do or die moment, but I think it was an opportunity that Chris saw to we came one lap earlier, we wanted to catch everyone off guard there. We did it. I didn’t get to pit road clean because the 34 kind of was coming off pit road and I had to check up.
“It didn’t matter because we added too much tape anyway. But he just he was going for it, and I don’t fault him for that because I’ve gotten really fast cars because he goes for it every single week.”
While disappointed he didn’t win the championship, Hamlin said there was still reason to celebrate his impressive season.
“I told you (everyone) at the beginning of the week we’re going to celebrate our year,” sounded Hamlin.
“Our year was fantastic in every way you can think of, and it just didn’t pan out in one race in our favor. You know, I don’t know about those guys. I talked to them briefly before the race, but I don’t know, I just right now just got to gather all the thoughts and think about everything.”
Despite the defeat, Hamlin is already starting to look ahead to 2020.
“I’m excited about next year,” he said. “I really am. It’s not like I’m going to go through the offseason upset or sad. It’s like, I’m looking forward to having the momentum that we took through this year with a first-year crew chief, and we’re going to win a lot, like a lot next year.
“I just think that we’ll have another opportunity (at the Championship 4). There’s no question.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
