Denny Hamlin in disbelief over speed catching Kyle Larson at Las Vegas

Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson have had their share of battles over the years. Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, they were back at it again.

This time, it was for the right to gain second place and challenge Chase Briscoe for the win in the Round of 8 playoff opener. Normally, you would expect a struggle between two drivers such as Hamlin and Larson. That wasn’t the case here; Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota was considerably faster, which he admitted was surprising to him.

“It was just a chess game out there,” Hamlin said on Monday’s Actions Detrimental podcast. “You’re always trying to guess where the car in front of you is going to go, guess right. When you guess right like I did when I was catching Larson and Briscoe, when you have a car as fast as mine was, it always makes it look like you’re running nitro speed. I couldn’t believe it, especially versus Larson. The corner speed I had versus Larson was a big, big difference. I think Kyle mentioned it in his interview afterwards that like, ‘I ran the top with about five to go because I thought I was far enough ahead of him entering [Turn] 3 that he might get down there, but I’m gonna clear him on the exit.’

“I just made up so much time running the bottom that I was able to get beside him, go into Turn 1, drive in hard, clear him, and at that point, as I’m clearing Larson and kind of blowing the corner, I still gained on Chase. Like, I could see that I’m just way faster than he is. I think it was a half a lap later I went around him.”

Denny Hamlin won the battle against Kyle Larson at Las Vegas

Hamlin blew by Larson and did so again Briscoe shortly thereafter. He took the checkered flag for win No. 60 of his NASCAR Cup Series career, clinching him a spot in the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway.

Larson had a car capable of winning at Las Vegas. Hamlin’s car was just better, and he tipped his cap to him after the race.

“I thought I had a big enough gap down the backstretch to go to the top, get momentum. His car, the Toyotas in general, were really, really, really fast on a short run, had a lot of speed. He must have nailed the bottom behind me, got inside. It was over from there,” Larson said. “Yeah, he did an awesome job. He got up on the wheel there. I felt like I was up on the wheel. He did a really good job. I tried to take his line away in three and four. He got to my outside. Rarely do you see Denny do that. He did a great job. Hats off to them.”