In hindsight, Denny Hamlin wishes he would not have let Kyle Larson force him three-wide middle on the final restart on Sunday at Kansas Speedway. Of course, if he could do it all over again, he also would likely have restarted on the outside as well.
That was the overall sentiment from Hamlin on Monday during the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, one in which he feels everything went against him in a race that looked like his to lose.
He had just retaken the lead from Tyler Reddick with four laps to go and was half a lap away from taking the white flag when Cody Ware spun due to a flat tire. Then, he simply got beat on the restart but factors both in and out of his control.
Even during the restart, Hamlin feels like he would have had a shot at winning if not for Tyler Reddick putting Christopher Bell into the wall and into his path.
“Like, of the Reddick contact with Bell doesn’t happen, and I don’t get (driven) all the way down to the apron … Kyle (Larson’s) car was so bad those last two laps,” Hamlin said. “That’s what happens (extreme tight balance) when you put on (right sides) and have really old lefts. That’s why it looked like Tyler was superman. …
“I thought I was going to be three-wide with (Larson and Reddick) entering turn three because of the run I got on the top.”
As far as Larson taking him three-wide going into Turn 1, he wants a redo on that too.
“I know, because I’ve been there before, that (Larson) is not going to push,” Hamlin said. “He’s going to try to get everything he can to go three-wide and I’ve just got to drive him down to the apron. ‘If you want to go three-wide, you have to go to the middle,’ and this is just a forewarning. …
“If this happens again, he’s going to have to go the middle. I will not let him. I will run to the apron or keep him on the apron next time. I will not get beat low at this racetrack again.”
So then, the fair and obvious question is why did Hamlin choose the bottom over the top as the control car driver. The data suggests the best restarts come from the bottom but that expects a push from behind that Larson was never going to give in that scenario.
“Should have, I should have, as strong as I know my cars are on the top on mile-and-a-half tracks, I absolutely should have started at the top, no matter what,” Hamlin said. “I could hold more throttle than everyone else.”
So again, why didn’t he?
“The bottom is the preferred line,” Hamlin said. “The bottom wins by the numbers. The data says the bottom.”
Just not on the final restart as it turns out.
“People are not content pushing anymore,” Hamlin said. “Everyone is just going to go for themselves. And that’s where you have to just throw the numbers out.”
Ultimately, Hamlin was extra disappointed because he knows next season is his final season, and this now makes two wins that got away from him in 2026 — Martinsville and Kansas.
“I took this one a little tougher because I just want to capitalize,” Hamlin said. “I’ve only got 60 races left and I just want to get these wins when I should be winning and it’s just not happening.
“It was the loose wheel at the end of Martinsville and a lot of stuff that’s not going great in the luck category or the creating your own luck category, which is what I chalk this up to.”
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