Denny Hamlin Falls Just Short of 3-Peat at Bristol

When green-flag stops occurred during the NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday (April 13) at Bristol Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin‘s team got the No. 11 car out just a few car lengths behind Kyle Larson, who was dominant all day.

As Larson struggled through lapped traffic, Hamlin had a glimmer of hope to track down the leader and do something he’s never done before: win three races in a row.

Instead, Larson carved through the cars, leaving Hamlin in the dust and earning his second win of the season.

“Obviously having track position helps a lot,” Larson told FOX post-race. “If Denny is in front of me, it could be a totally different story and be really hard to pass him, but glad to stop his three-peat.”

With a playful jab, he added, “We hate to see him win, as I’m sure you guys do too.”

Larson and Hamlin have finished first and second together six times entering this weekend. This is the first time Larson has beat Hamlin when the pair ended up at the front.

“The [No.] 5 was able to navigate traffic slightly better than what I was, and that was a big benefit,” Hamlin said after the race. “I felt like [with] an open racetrack I could run with him and and was able to catch him there on the second long stint, but I just couldn’t navigate the traffic quite as good as he could.”

Hamlin was hoping to get that third-straight win while defending his victory in the race last year, an event that saw extreme tire wear. That wear returned during practice on Saturday, and it would have played right into Hamlin’s hands.

Instead, a warmer Sunday afternoon allowed the Goodyear rubber to get into the track rather than balling up on top of the surface.

“It’s a riddle that’s it’s really, really hard to figure out, but it’s certainly just a 24-hour period; it changes,” Hamlin said. “It certainly seems like it’s a track temperature issue.

“You’ve got to give teams their due when they dominate. We shouldn’t throw mud on, you know, the racing or whatever, because someone goes out there and dominates.

“I at least kept them honest for a little while there. They were superior here in the fall and they were superior again today. Sometimes you’ll have that and then someone will hit it.”

Hamlin said he needed Larson to “stub his toe” in order to have a shot at the race.

While falling short of claiming the sword at the Last Great Colosseum, this is Hamlin’s fourth straight top-five finish.

“Really strong month for the [No.] 11 car and doing a lot of things right,” Hamlin said. “Sometimes you run into a really fast car and a really fast driver, and you finish second.”