'Really good team and really good driver' beat Hamlin at Bristol

Denny Hamlin gave the perfect summation of his Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“A really strong race, a really strong month, for the [No.] 11 car, and [we’re] doing a lot of things right,” Hamlin said. “But sometimes you run into a really fast car and a really fast driver, and we finished second today.”

Hamlin finished second to Kyle Larson, who led 411 of 500 laps. It ended the No. 11's two-race winning streak from Martinsville Speedway (March 30) and Darlington Raceway (April 6) and it denied Hamlin a chance to win three consecutive races for the first time in his Cup Series career.

“Once I got to second with 200 to go or so, Kyle really stretched it out on me the first 50, 60 laps of that run, and then we ran back to him heavy before that green flag cycle,” Hamlin said of the chain of events. “At that point, I thought with 200 to go that Kyle had the best car. I was kind of next in line, and I was going to need him to stub his toe to win the race.

“I tried not to make any mistakes. I kept running my race and with 100 to go and after I ran him down, I was like, 'OK, well, maybe I have something for him here.' I gave it all I got, but it just wasn’t enough.”

There was no denying Larson, who didn’t put a wheel wrong all race. Neither did Larson’s team.

“I thought [Larson] was able to navigate traffic slightly better than what I was, and that was a big benefit,” Hamlin said. “I felt like in open racetrack I could run with him and was able to catch him there on the second long stint, but I couldn’t navigate traffic quite as well as he could.”

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Cup Series teams also didn’t have the tire variable that some expected after Saturday when there was heavy wear. Sunday, there was hardly any wear and it took longer than anticipated to lay rubber on the racetrack before multiple grooves began to be an option.

Hamlin described the tire situation as a “riddle” but figured it must be temperature-related. Saturday was 45 degrees and Sunday was sunny and 65 degrees. This produced a less-than-optimally pleasing race for some, with just four leaders and four lead changes.

“You got to give teams their due when they dominate,” Hamlin said of the product. “We shouldn’t throw mud on the racing or whatever because someone goes out there and dominates. I, at least, kept him honest for a little while there. They were superior here in the fall, and they were superior again today.

“Sometimes you’ll have that, and someone will hit it. That’s what will happen when you have a really good team and a really good driver.”