Frustrated Denny Hamlin airs it out on pit road issue that cost him chance to win Coke 600

William Byron and Denny Hamlin had the fastest cars for a majority of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But whereas Byron went onto compete for the win before ultimately coming up short to Ross Chastain, Hamlin finished a disappointing 16th.

The turning point of Hamlin’s race came on the Lap 348 pit stop. Hamlin’s team failed to get enough fuel into his No. 11 Toyota, meaning Hamlin had to come back down pit road on Lap 389, forfeiting his P3 position. That was it for Hamlin. All that speed and nothing to show for it.

“We were really fast,” Hamlin said, via Frontstretch. “Us and the 24 [Byron] were the class of the field for most of the day and then, the 1 [Chastain] came on really strong at the end. I would have loved to see that battle through, but obviously, once they told me I was short on fuel, at that point I had to stop chasing the 24 because I’m not going to risk getting in the fence when I’m too short on fuel.”

Pit road mistake costs Denny Hamlin at Charlotte

It was an unfortunate mistake at a time where Hamlin and the No. 11 team couldn’t afford one. It cost him a shot at the win. Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gayle, wasn’t sure why the second can failed to get enough fuel into the car.

“For whatever reason, the second can, when they plugged it, barely took any fuel at all,” Gayle said. “I can’t tell from the view right now if it’s a bad plug, like open on the bottom. We saw a bunch of fuel coming out of the bottom. But it got about four gallons less than we expected. I would have needed to sit there for another two seconds to get four gallons in it. Unfortunate.”

Inconsistent would be a fitting word to describe Hamlin’s 2025 season to this point. Hamlin has two wins and a pair of runner-up finishes. But this is now five consecutive races without a top-10. The overall performance is there; the finishes just aren’t lining up and that’s frustrating for Hamlin.

“I feel good about our performance. I feel crappy about how we finish,” Hamlin said. “That’s been the story of the last month, and not much has changed.”