Denny Hamlin says Kyle Larson didn't have many contenders in win at Las Vegas

Denny Hamlin believes it was Kyle Larson’s race to lose at Las Vegas over the weekend.

While Larson was victorious, and Hamlin came home with a top-ten finish. Still, there weren’t many who had the speed and ability to defeat the Hendrick wheelman on Sunday, and Hamlin touched on that fact during the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast.

“Best car, best driver won. No question about it. He spanked the field at Texas, Kyle Larson did. Backed it up with a really, really strong run at Vegas on Sunday,” Hamlin explained. “He really didn’t have, I mean, I was trying to think if he had some contenders throughout the day, but once he was out front, it didn’t look like there was many contenders, until the very end, with [Christopher] Bell. I didn’t know if lapped traffic played a role in that or not. But yeah, I think that clearly, when it comes to the mile-and-a-halfs, he’s standout-ish. Even to his team. You look at the team cars, the No. 9, the No. 48 and the No. 24. He’s just been a gap ahead of those guys.

“They’ve got it going on right now, and now they can shift their focus towards Homestead. Or not Homestead, to Phoenix.”

The championship may very well come down to Denny Hamlin or Kyle Larson, but the latter will have a leg up on the Joe Gibbs Racing wheelman, by virtue of his victory on Sunday. Hamlin will look to join him after next weekend’s race, looking to punch his ticket at Homestead.

More on Kyle Larson, victory at Las Vegas

Moreover, three of the last six champions have won the opening race of the Round of 8. That includes Kyle Larson during his 2021 championship run. He won at Texas and then went on to win at Phoenix in convincing fashion. 

As for anyone who thinks Larson is going to sit back for two weeks? Think again. Homestead-Miami is one of Larson’s favorite tracks. He can run the wall high and just flat-outrun everyone else on the track. 

In that 2021 run, Larson let it all out to close the Round of 12 and to start the Round of 8. He went and won three straight races from the Roval to Texas to Kansas. It’s possible that we could see Larson go back-to-back as the Cup Series heads to Miami in a week. Let’s not forget, he won at Martinsville this year, too. 

In this Next Gen era, back-to-back wins are rare. It’s incredibly difficult to be that consistent week to week. Kyle Larson will try to join William Byron, Kevin Harvick, and Chris Buescher as the only drivers to win back-to-back races in the Next Gen era.

On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this article.