CONCORD, N.C. — After back-to-back engine failures to start the month of May, Denny Hamlin desperately needed a good showing in Sunday’s (May 26) Coca-Cola 600.
Race-winning speed? Check. Twenty-two stage points? Check. Xfinity Fastest Lap bonus? Check.
“We were really fast, obviously,” Hamlin said. “Us and the No. 24 (William Byron) were the class of field for most of the day, and then the No. 1 (Ross Chastain) came on really strong there at the end.”
The No. 11 car came to life in the final three stages of the 600, and for much of the second half, it looked like Hamlin was the only one that could keep up with and pass Byron, who led more than two-thirds of the race.
The two drivers were neck-and-neck when the final round of pit stops began, but it was the money stop that proved to be Hamlin and the No. 11 team’s undoing. One of the two fuel cans failed to discharge fuel, and Hamlin left pit road with a car that would run dry 15 laps short of the finish.
“No fuel came out of the can,” Hamlin explained. “… I saw that it got plugged in, but there was no fuel in the can, or there was nothing going into the car.”
From that point on, Hamlin had to lay back and nurse his car home the best he could.
Once they told me that I was short on fuel, at that point I kind of stopped chasing the No. 24,” Hamlin said. “Just because I’m not going to risk trying to get in the fence when I’m too short on fuel anyway.”
Hamlin almost caught a lucky break in the form of a late caution, as Tyler Reddick nearly wiped out right in front of the leaders on the backstretch. But he kept his No. 45 car straight, and Hamlin was forced to wave the white flag and pit for fuel not long after.
“[A caution] certainly would have helped,” Hamlin said. “We would’ve all came back in [to pit] and at least rerack there.”
The one miscue ultimately cost Hamlin a shot at his second Coca-Cola 600 victory. The ending of the race featured a fantastic duel between Byron and Chastain, and Hamlin was disappointed that he wasn’t part of it.
“I just wanted to see that last run kind of play out,” Hamlin said. “It was still a great finish, great race anyway, and it’s fun battling up front. Nobody could lead because everyone would get too loose. My car was better in second [place] but fast enough to lead. But once I led, it was too loose, so we were just back and forth and obviously put on a great show.”
Hamlin finished 16th after the late pit stop and scored 44 points, the fourth-most of all drivers. Sunday was a great showing of speed, but with four consecutive finishes outside the top 15, the Coke 600 was the latest mediocre result for Hamlin in a month that’s been chalk full of them.
“I feel good about our performance,” Hamlin said. “I feel crappy about how we finish. That’s been the story of the last month, and not much has changed.”
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf