Denny Hamlin reveals surprising details about racing with lead in NASCAR

Denny Hamlin knows a thing or two about racing with the lead in the NASCAR Cup Series. He decided to try to examine where Alex Bowman went wrong during the final laps of the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway over the weekend.

The Hendrick Motorsports star couldn’t hold off teammate Kyle Larson in the final laps in Florida. Bowman saw his first win since 2024’s Grant Park 165 in Chicago dissipate, as he wasn’t able to hang on to P1. While Bowman has been solid in 2025, he’s not racing for the win week-in and week-out — who knows when the next time he’ll be out front that late in the race will be.

During the latest episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin took some time to elaborate on where Bowman could improve when it comes to racing with the lead. It’s easy to look back on it now and pick apart the No. 48 wheelman, and Hamlin recognizes that, but this is what the 44-year old would’ve done different if he was in first instead, with Larson pressing for the win.

“It’s the tough part about being a leader sometimes in these races,” Hamlin stated, trying to make sense of Bowman’s performance late in the Straight Talk Wireless 400. “Remember, I talked about that — it’s so much easier to chase someone than it is to be chased, because when you’re being chased, you’re like, ‘Okay, I need to be a little conservative here, because I don’t want to give him’ — I’ve said this many times when I’m leading, ‘I don’t want to give anyone the lead. I’m going to make them earn it.’ 

“Now, they might have to earn it though — It might be easier for them to earn it, because I’m not going to run a line that’s going to be on a razor’s edge of — it’s the fastest line, but I’m likely to f**k up here, right? It’s going to be — I’m going to come off the wall just a little bit, because there’s no amount of air that you’re going to give the No. 5 car if you run three inches off the wall. He’s not going to gain on you enough for it to matter. So, I would have come off the wall slightly more, and then force the No. 5 to make the pass only in Turn One and [Turn] Two. 

“The downside to that — the counter to that as well, you don’t want him getting so close in three and four to where then he can run a slide job on you in one and two. At that time, Kyle was really getting the top line going in one and two. So, I don’t know — I just feel like there’s an opportunity there to make him earn it. But again, I’m not in that seat. It’s so hard to Monday Morning Quarterback, because you saw the result of what happened.”

Alas, Bowman might want to take some advice from Hamlin, who’s certainly been in this situation time and time again. He won’t be able to get back the chance he had at Homestead, but there will be plenty of other opportunities for the No. 48 wheelman moving forward. 

Alex Bowman has finished in the top ten in five out of the first six races of the season, and the wins will come if he continues racing up front, like he did over the weekend. His next chance will come at Martinsville Speedway — he won there in October of 2021, and he famously had some beef with Denny Hamlin afterwards.