AVONDALE, Ariz.-- After a constantly solid period that had Denny Hamlin in opinion at one point for the regular-season title, the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Competing vehicle driver entered the champion weekend with an opportunity to finally win his initial NASCAR Cup Series crown.The soon-to-be
41-year-old chauffeur is the winningest active vehicle driver without a champion on his return to with 46 Mug success-- 2nd all-time behind Junior Johnson. He has 3 Daytona 500 victories and wins at various other legendary tracks like Talladega Superspeedway, Darlington Raceway as well as Bristol Motor Speedway. Yet no championship.And as Hamlin showed up relaxed and also certain headed into Sunday's season finale at Phoenix metro Raceway-- where he additionally has 2 profession victories-- it looked like possibly he 'd lastly arrive. Yet a Cup championship continues to avoid Hamlin, that. Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Competing colleague, Martin Truex Jr., completed second, while Larson's Hendrick Motorsports colleague, Chase Elliott, the 4th championship competitor, completed fifth. "I have to cope with the outcome since I can not change it," Hamlin said."Disappointed, definitely, without a doubt. But I understood entering into today I was going to require the race to go a specific method. If it goes the way it did in 2015, it goes green out, we're probably winning. But it didn't. "A lot of these races come down to green-white checkers or shootouts at the end, which just wasn't our strength and also hasn't been ever."PHOENIX: LARSON: ELLIOTT
: After winning 13 races between the 2019 as well as 2020 seasons, Hamlin's very first checkered flag of 2021 didn't come until the initial of 10 playoff races at Darlington Raceway in September. He won one more playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, however with the previous seven champions additionally taking the checkered
flag in the title race, it was most likely he 'd need to win at Phoenix to protect his initial champion. While Hamlin and Truex had speed in the longer runs of Sunday's race, Larson as well as Elliott had the advantage on the brief runs. And also it was nothing brand-new, Hamlin said. "Those autos were just above ours for the second fifty percent of the year in every element on the brief run," he continued."But truthfully, there's just absolutely nothing else I might have done. There's absolutely nothing else. I drove as tough as I might every lap. I really did not have the speed for the first 20. It was evident in a great deal of the restarts we had. It was actually overachieved in plenty of. But that was it."
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