Denny Hamlin reacts to historic photo-finish at Phoenix, battle with Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson

NASCAR’s Cup Series race at Phoenix, the Shriners Children’s 500, came down to the wire. In fact, it was the second-closest finish in the track’s history at the Cup Series level, with Christopher Bell narrowly edging out Denny Hamlin for the win.

Hamlin thought he would have had a better crack at it had there been a few less cautions. There were several down the stretch.

“Yeah, great job by the Sport Clips team,” Denny Hamlin said on a post-race interview on FS1. “They just got better and better as it went. Pit crew did a phenomenal job to keep us in the game when we had a bad stop in the middle, and they made up for it in the end.”

Hamlin got involved in a showdown with Bell, who had won the previous two races on the Cup Series circuit, as well as red-hot Kyle Larson. The trio provided a masterpiece down the stretch.

Denny Hamlin expertly blocked Larson at one point, using Larson instead to gain a push up the track. It just wasn’t quite enough to clear Bell.

“It was the first time we were able to get some clean air all day, and obviously our car was really fast,” Hamlin explained. “I really kind of wanted it to stay green there, because I thought in the long run was really where we were going to be able to excel, especially on these tires.

“But we got a good restart. The 5 really gave me a great push on the front stretch on the restart, and then down the back stretch. So I had kind of position on the 20 but I knew he was going to ship it in there, and if he had to use me he could. Obviously we just kind of ran out of racetrack there, but great finish and great job by the whole Joe Gibbs team to give us some fast cars.”

The finish was Denny Hamlin’s best of the season — his second top-10 finish — and his best since he finished second at Richmond last season. Of course, he’ll be hoping for a little more going forward.

In addition to the points he’ll collect from a second-place finish, Denny Hamlin also claimed stage points in both Stage 1 and Stage 2. He finished eighth in Stage 1 and sixth in Stage 2.