Chris Gayle explains Denny Hamlin final pit stop decision to take four tires, difference in race

Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 team had a big decision to make ahead of the final pit stop before overtime during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway: stay out in the lead, pit for two tires, or pit for four tires.

Crew chief Chris Gayle chose the latter. That decision did not work out. Hamlin restarted 10th after a slew of drivers took two tires. Kyle Larson was one of those drivers, and he restarted fifth. Larson got a good restart, and the gap between he and Hamlin was too much. Larson finished third, good enough to win his second championship.

After the race, Gayle addressed the four-tire call. He felt four was the right call, it just didn’t work out how they hoped.

Chris Gayle pic.twitter.com/naiciqBYCc

— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) November 3, 2025

“I know the time he was looking at stuff, preparing for that qualifying lap weeks ahead. I know that, and that’s what I hate, is I hate that it came down to something chaotic, a late-race restart where we were the dominant car and didn’t get the win,” Gayle said, via Matt Weaver of Motorsport. “For a second I could think, ‘oh, well if I took two tires,’ I don’t know if that would have worked.

“The 5 was doing it, this was their only shot. Really, it was gonna dictate on just how many other cars stayed and fit in between you. I think four tires was the right call, it just didn’t get clear on the bottom, and I thought for a split second we were. The 5 got the outside and we were just boxed in with chaos.”

Denny Hamlin devastated after coming up short in NASCAR championship race

The defeat is crushing for Hamlin, who was looking to win his first career Cup championship. He led 208 laps, a record for any driver in a championship race. If not for William Byron blowing a tire with three laps to go and ending up in the wall, forcing NASCAR to throw a caution, he would have cruised his way to the championship.

At 44 years old, Hamlin knows the clock is ticking on his NASCAR career. This could have been his last, best chance to win a championship. He was right there but something out of his control took it away from him. It just wasn’t meant to be, he said.

“Nothing I can do different,” Hamlin said. “I mean, prepared as good as I could coming into the weekend. My team gave me a fantastic car. Just didn’t work out. I was just praying no caution and had one there. What can you do? It’s just not meant to be.”