Denny Hamlin doubles down on appreciation for Kyle Larson, squashes 'undeserving' narrative

Yes, Denny Hamlin came up short of winning the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship despite leading a championship race record 208 laps. No, he won’t stand for the narrative that Kyle Larson is an undeserving champion.

Larson did not lead a single lap in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway. However, he did accumulate more points than any driver over the course of 36 races. So, there’s no sour grapes from Hamlin towards Larson, someone he has a ton of appreciation for.

“I got to give so much appreciation to Kyle Larson and how gracious he was during all of this. Very humble during all this and certainly during the banquet, giving myself and my team the props that we did deserve in that final race. He did nothing wrong,” Hamlin said on Friday’s Actions Detrimental podcast. “His team knew that they had to do something to try to win. You know, they played the game as it was meant to be played. So, we definitely have a deserving champion in the 5 team, they scored more points than anyone else the entire year. There’s, you know, I don’t think anyone should ever question the deservingness of Kyle Larson’s championship because he definitely did…

“If I were a race fan only, I certainly admire his ability behind the wheel to do special things. If I didn’t win, wish it was a Toyota, wish Chase [Briscoe] got it, but Larson is someone I’m very close with off the track and have a ton of respect for. I wanna make sure that 5 team and Larson — there is no asterisk behind this one. They played the game, they had to fight back, went a lap down at one point, got the lucky dog. We love resetting the score and unfortunately, I was one of the ones that got hurt by the reset.”

Kyle Larson opens up about winning championship over Denny Hamlin

Larson knew how crushed Hamlin was after Phoenix, and he made it a point to give respect to the 44-year-old at the NASCAR banquet two days after the race. At the end of the day, Larson and his team played the game, and it paid off.

Larson is now a two-time champion. In 2021, he was the dominant driver of the season. This one, he admits, he stole, but he certainly won’t be giving the trophy back.

“I mean, yes and no. Sure, yeah, we stole it, but our team did a really good job,” Larson told Lee Spencer of FloRacing. “I think that’s what I’m most proud of. Just how quickly we kind of turned our race around, obviously, due to some good fortune with cautions and the correct pit calls and strategy. Which weren’t clear decisions, either, and everybody kind of executed when they needed to.

“So, yeah, we didn’t dominate the race by any means, not even leading a lap, but I feel like our team did the best job, and we are deserving champions in that respect. And two, when you look at it, we did have a great season with laps led and consistent finishes and top 5s and top 10s. We were in the top two in basically every category. So, it was a great year and I’m proud of that.”