Rick Hendrick: ‘I feel bad’ for Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs after late heartbreak in NASCAR championship

The end of the championship race at Phoenix on Sunday was one to remember. Or if you’re Denny Hamlin, probably one to try to forget.

Hamlin had the unfortunate distinction of falling victim to a late caution when he seemed otherwise poised to run away with the win. A slow pit stop before the overtime restart proved costly, and Kyle Larson would finish in front to take home the NASCAR Cup Series championship.

After the race, parts of the proceeding felt a bit like a funeral. Denny Hamlin sat in his car for almost two minutes after the race. Stunned.

On the other side was Rick Hendrick celebrating his team’s win with Larson and company. And even Hendrick noted he felt bad for the No. 11 team.

“Well most of the time I have a little bit of a warning that it’s going to happen,” Hendrick said of Larson’s championship. “This time I had no warning, and I almost went to my knees. I feel bad for Denny and Joe (Gibbs), but that’s the way it happens. I’ve lost some that way.”

He wasn’t the only one who offered some sympathy to Denny Hamlin, either. William Byron, who had a tire go down and went into the wall to bring out the caution with four laps to go, also apologized to Hamlin.

Still, it was a victory on the other side for Hendrick and his team. He enjoyed it.

“Can’t believe it’s been 30 years since we did the first one, but now 15 (winners), that’s a pretty good ratio,” Hendrick said. “So guys worked hard. It was an unbelievable race. I’ve never seen a race that had that much action with tires and so forth.”

Denny Hamlin had a commanding lead in the final stage of the race before the Byron caution came out. He had also led more laps than any playoff driver in a championship race. He was dominant.

That’s what made the whole thing sting so much for the No. 11 team. They were right there, on the cusp of that elusive championship for Denny Hamlin.

On the flip side, the Hendrick team was ready to capitalize at the right moments in a strong postseason. The head man explained.

“They had a rough summer and the Indy thing and we came back to Charlotte and crashed in the first lap,” Hendrick said. “It just wasn’t the 5’s kind of year. Then toward the end of the year we started running really good and our guys did a lot of work on the short tracks and the flat tracks and it started showing up.

“William had an unbelievable Martinsville, and he had some rough luck there toward the end, but hey man, this is a crazy sport. It’s not over till it’s over. And that proves it today. When you bunch them all up like that it’s chaos. We were just fortunate to come out the other end. But if it’s going to be a green-white-checkered, and you’ve got Larson anywhere near the front he can get it done.”