Hamlin leaving Indianapolis disappointed once again

Car owner Denny Hamlin and driver Denny Hamlin were once again at opposite ends of the spectrum after the Brickyard 400.

Hamlin won the race as a car owner with Corey Heim, who made the winning pass off a restart with 34 laps to go. But it came at his own expense as a driver who, for the 18th time, was trying to win the crown jewel event.

“It’s not bad luck,” said Hamlin after ultimately finishing fifth. “Luck is you run over a toothpick and it blows your tire. It’s a lack of execution. I thought we did a really good job of getting ourselves in contention and executed a great restart. Then, the roles were reversed. The outside line got that good push again and was able to clear us.”

It was the second straight year 23XI Racing won the event. Bubba Wallace was the victor in 2025, although Hamlin did not factor into the finish and wound up far less disappointed.

Sunday, however, was Hamlin’s second-to-last opportunity to win the only crown jewel he does not have on his Cup Series resume. Or at least it is expected to be one of the last few opportunities, as he’s set to retire after the 2027 season.

Hamlin qualified fifth, averaged a fifth-place running position, and led 14 laps.

There were two key moments in the race where Hamlin was in the right place at the right time but with opposite results. The first came on the second-to-last restart with 42 laps to go. Hamlin had come off pit road second to Heim but beat him on the restart to take the race lead with a shove from Gibbs teammate Christopher Bell.

The final caution, however, flew on the same lap. It set up the final restart with 34 laps to go. In that moment, it all fell apart when the Gibbs teammates could not execute the restart by shoving each other down the frontstretch.

Hamlin was the leader and on the inside lane with Bell behind him, and Chase Briscoe behind Bell. None of them were connected, and Heim, who was shoved by Joey Logano, beat Hamlin into Turn 1.

“It’s on the JGR guys that didn’t execute the restart very well,” Hamlin said. “I had [Bell] pushing me, like 500 yards before the restart zone, and I can’t go until we get to the restart zone. He said he was getting shoved by [Briscoe] way, way back there. I don’t know, just definitely didn’t time it very well.”

Hamlin tried to fight back on Heim by going as low as he could through the short-chute into Turn 2, but Heim blocked the move. Bell then charged past Hamlin on the outside down the backstretch, and by the end of the lap, he was fighting Briscoe for fifth. It was where he settled and ran for the remaining laps.

“Into [Turn] 2, I’m in the stuff, and we’re not going to make a good corner,” Hamlin said. “Everyone is fighting to try to win.”

If he had been able to keep the lead, Hamlin has no doubt it would have ended differently.

“Nobody could pass anybody,” he said, “so yeah.”