TALLADEGA, Ala. — Denny Hamlin completed a pivotal Chase race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, and he moved to second in the points.
Videos by FanBuzz
Yet, the frustration appeared evident for the veteran driver as he simply said "whatever" over the radio after hearing that championship leader Kyle Larson had won for the third time in the Chase.
Once again, an important race had gone poorly for the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. He had been involved in a crash, missed out on stage points, and watched as his main rival in the championship battle race past him at the finish line.
WHERE DID HE COME FROM?!?!@KyleLarsonRacin goes from 11th to first to score the victory at @TALLADEGA! pic.twitter.com/C5SzihhZGZ
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 25, 2026
"A lot of things have gone right. We've not done that," Hamlin said after climbing from the No. 11 Toyota. "We've got a big old gap. I think as long as he can keep his four tires on it the next two weeks, he'll be champion again."
To Hamlin's point, Larson is in a favorable situation heading to Martinsville Speedway, a track where he has eight consecutive top-10 finishes, a win, and two runner-ups. The Hendrick Motorsports driver is now 73 points ahead of Hamlin.
Now all Larson needs to do to clinch his third title is move to a 77-point lead over second place in the standings. This is not out of the realm of possibility considering his recent history at the Virginia short track.
It's not that Hamlin had a dreadful day. Yes, he knocked out some of the front-end toe link when a crash occurred in front of him. He missed out on stage points as Chevrolet drivers banded together to help Larson.
There's trouble at the front of the field!
Multiple championship contenders are collected! pic.twitter.com/u5jRxXRxvo
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 25, 2026
Yet, he still had a chance to potentially contend for the win. He had Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in front of him, a driver who seemingly did not care about the Chevrolet instructions. The final lap of overtime just did not play out for him.
"I was committed to stay with Ricky because I knew he was going to do what was best for him and not what he was told to do," Hamlin said. "Then I got clipped on the inside (by Todd Gilliland)."
Hamlin kept racing after a chain reaction led to contact from Gilliland. He crossed the line in eighth place, a respectable spot considering that eight other Chase drivers failed to complete the race due to wrecks.
But he still fell from 42 points back of Larson to 73 points back while watching his championship hopes grow fainter.
"The 5 (Larson) is on a massive run at the right time of the year," Hamlin said. "If you asked me at the start of the day if I would take an eighth (place finish), I mean, probably.
"So, it's just what we've got. It's disappointing, but also like our day could have been a (expletive) ton worse. We didn't get stage points. We tried. But it's just a lot of games going on. It's really, really hard, tough to do it."
