Denny Hamlin says he was caught 'sleeping' on final restart at Kansas

With the lead ahead of the “money stop” pit stops, Denny Hamlin knew his four-tire call was the right one to make. Even as others took just two tires and made advances on him off pit road. He felt that he was doing the right thing by putting on four shoes and hitting the track in the final NASCAR restart.

Denny Hamlin would lose position, and it put him in a spot where he had to drive around other drivers for a shot at Tyler Reddick. We saw a three-wide battle for the lead that soon turned into a run for the 45-car.

While the 11 was fast and started to make up ground, it was too late with just a lap to go. For Hmalin, that was more of a mental mistake than anything. Looking back, he would still get four tires. However, Hamlin tried to get a push from the 5 of Kyle Larson, and it never came.

“The No. 5 [Larson] was just laying back so much; I was trying to back up to him,” said Hamlin, via Kelly Crandall of RACER Mag. “I should have just focused forward, probably. It gave the No. 45 [Reddick] an opportunity to get up there in front of us, so just kind of sleeping on the restart, looking in the rearview instead of looking in the front.

“But hats off to my Yahoo team, Camry TRD team. Another really, really fast car. Just didn’t need that caution at the end.”

With Larson behind him, Denny Hamlin didn’t get a push on the restart. He was able to counter, but it was too late by the time he did. While he flew by the other cars, Reddick was too fast and too far gone to reel him in.

Denny Hamlin P2 as a driver, P1 as an owner

No matter what, Denny Hamlin probably wishes he had a win after today. However, if he was going to lose, it helps that he owns the car that beat him. Reddick, Hamlin, and Bubba Wallace all had cars that could win this race. Wallace suffered a blown tire that took him out of contention, leaving his teammate and boss to duel it out.

Hamlin would lead for 63 laps on the day, but it wasn’t enough. Those late restarts haven’t bitten too many drivers this season. This time, it was a huge factor in who won and how it went down.

Reddick was there for most of the second half of the race. He just needed a caution to come so he could get a solid restart next to Hamlin. With Chris Buescher blowing a tire late in the race, it was exactly what the 45 team needed.

Denny Hamlin is going to be fine after this. He’s had fast car after fast car and that should continue. He’s in a spot to make the transition to the Round of 12, and unless something wild happens, will be able to lock himself into the next round at Bristol.