Gayle and Hamlin finally shake off Championship Race blues with Vegas win

Sunday’s win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway wasn’t necessarily redemption for the No. 11 team, but it certainly felt pretty good given the last few months.

“Leaving Phoenix [last November], that was probably the most dejected I've been in my life,” said Chris Gayle, the crew chief for Denny Hamlin. “I probably sat around for three days rethinking everything I could have ever done. You go through those three days where you're kicking yourself.”

Gayle could only sit and wonder for so long, though. No, he acknowledged, he wasn’t going to let it both him forever.

But he did have his pity party before shifting to wondering how he could move on and learn from the events of the season finale, in which he chose to take four tires instead of two, and the team lost the championship. Hamlin had dominated the day until the race-deciding caution flew with four laps to go.

Hamlin finished sixth, which was three spots behind championship rival Kyle Larson. Larson’s team had taken two tires and used the track position to its advantage. It was Hamlin’s 20th season of trying to win the Cup Series title.

One of the things that helped Gayle – who made the championship race in his first season paired with Hamlin – move on perhaps quicker than might be expected, was the people around him. In particular, his daughter and how she and others closest to Gayle were going to see him act.

“It did take me about three days to kind of get over it,” he said. “I felt horrible because Denny is going through all the things he's going through at the time. I can't really help it. But from a personal side, how could you not feel bad? You’re like, ‘Gah, I could have delivered that championship to him,’ and I wasn't able to do it. Then he has to go through all this.

“That’s a little tough … in hindsight, seeing the bigger picture, putting it all on myself. There were some decisions I would have made differently, but who knows how it would have played out either way.”

Hamlin knew the 2025 finale was the last time his father, Dennis, would be able to see him win a championship. Dennis was in ill health and died during the offseason in a tragic house fire that also injured his mother, Mary Lou.

There was also the federal trial Hamlin went through with his race team, 23XI Racing. Fortunately for him, it went in his favor via a settlement against NASCAR.

The emotional wave Hamlin rode during the offseason was well documented, as well as his mental fight to get back into race mode. Gayle, however, had been a background figure in the narrative until Sunday in Las Vegas when he had the chance to acknowledge how deeply the events of last fall affected him.

Hamlin and Gayle never spoke about what went down in Phoenix last November. They didn't need to. James Gilbert/Getty Images

Gayle and Hamlin have never spoken about the tire decision. There was no explanation needed from Hamlin’s side of things because he lives by the credo, win and lose together. Sometimes, when a team goes for it, the result is the ultimate reward. Sometimes it doesn’t work out.

“I don't want it to reflect badly on me,” said Hamlin of the two not talking, “(but) he left me alone. I didn't have much interaction with Gayle until a couple of weeks before the season. He kind of let me be. I've somewhat always had that kind of relationship with my crew chiefs. It's been more professional than personal. It doesn't reflect how I think of him as a crew chief or a person. It's just I've always kind of kept my work personnel and friendship personnel separate.

“I know that he felt horrible. Not that it was his fault. Maybe I could have done something. That was just a moment that certainly he wishes he could have back, and I wish I could have back. But we both went through it for some time. But by the time I got back to him, he was certainly in a better spot.”

Hamlin agreed with Gayle’s call for four tires and felt it was the right one. When it was made, Hamlin looked at his code sheet in the cockpit and said, “OK, sounds good.” Had he thought it was the wrong call, Hamlin would have questioned it.

And he doesn’t hold it against Gayle for being the reason he still doesn’t have a championship on his resume.

“I mean, damn, we dominated the race,” Hamlin said. “I can't speak to what the war room thought or he thought or whatever. I certainly was surprised to see fricking nine guys stay out or take two and put themselves right in the middle of the championship battle. I couldn't believe all those cars stayed out there. But they did.

“It's only the wrong call because one or two extra cars stay out. If one or two don't, I'm right where I need to be. If Larson is not right behind a teammate, does he get through as easily? We'll never know, but those are the ifs and buts. You just can't live in that world. That's why I didn't even want to talk about it, because you can't change it.

“There's not one person on that Tuesday in that awards ceremony that didn't think that I was good enough to be a champion on that day. I just didn't take home the trophy.”