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Denny Hamlin has been one win behind Tony Stewart on the all-time list since the 2022 Coca-Cola 600. The driver of the No. 11 Toyota Camry was finally able to tie the Hall of Famer with his 49th win by using a bold last-lap move at Kansas Speedway on May 7.
The moment occurred after Kyle Larson took the white flag at the intermediate track. Hamlin got right up on the left side of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro before lifting suddenly. He then made contact with the rear of Larson’s stock car, which sent it sideways into the wall. Hamlin went on to win while the 2021 Cup Series champion kept moving forward and finished second overall.
“I haven’t seen a replay yet,” Larson told media members on pit road. “Obviously, I was really loose, and he got to my inside finally off of [Turn] 2 and was side-drafting extremely aggressively.
“It felt like touching, so I don’t know if just he finally like touched me enough to turn me right, which was weird. I don’t know if he was behind me or what, but it turned me right. Obviously, I want to be upset. I just haven’t seen a replay. I don’t know what happened.”
Hamlin Provided His Own Viewpoint
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GettyDenny Hamlin (front) races Kyle Larson (rear) at Kansas Speedway.
Hamlin provided comments about the last-lap contact during a post-race press conference at Kansas Speedway. He said that he did not mean to make contact with the rear of the No. 5 Chevrolet. He called the incident a “miscalculation.”
“I knew the only way I was going to have an attempt to get near him was to get a huge run off Turn 4,” Hamlin said. “So I ran way up high in Turn 3 — really kind of a Kyle Larson line — way up by the fence, and I just pulled it down and got a huge run. And that run down the front straightaway allowed me to pack air on him getting in the corner and get him up the racetrack so I could get beside of him.
“So we’re both pedaling the throttle on the exit. I was sideways, he went sideways, and then as you start to kind of get ready to… I knew it would be close whether he was going to clear me and I’m just trying to grind on his left side trying to keep the side draft as tight as I could. It’s just a super sensitive part of the car if you can get to the left rear, and obviously, it hooked him to the right.”
“…It was exciting. I mean, I wish it wasn’t [the] contact that decided it,” Hamlin added. “But I mean, who knows what happens in Turns 3 and 4? Right? I would love to have that opportunity.”
Hamlin Made History in Multiple Ways
The win moved Hamlin one step closer to his goal of 60 career Cup Series wins. He now has 11 remaining as he tries to return to the championship four. This win also helped him make history in multiple ways.
Hamlin entered the race weekend in a five-way tie for the most all-time at Kansas Speedway. He had three career wins at the intermediate track, as did Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson. He went on and broke this tie by scoring his fourth career win, which just happened to be the 400th win in Joe Gibbs Racing history.
Additionally, Hamlin pulled off the win with a last-lap pass on Larson. According to the FOX Sports broadcast, this was the first time in NASCAR Cup Series history that Kansas Speedway saw a last-lap pass for the win.
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