Denny Hamlin provides visceral reaction to loss: 'I never want to race a car ever again'

A devastating end to tonight’s NASCAR Cup Series championship race. Denny Hamlin goes home empty-handed once again. When it felt like it was destined to be, the lawsuit, the 60-win milestone, his big win at Las Vegas…but another trip to the Championship 4 ends in heartbreak.

Right now, Denny Hamlin and everyone who watched are still processing what happened. William Byron apologized to Denny, even if his wreck and the late caution caused his Hendrick teammate, Kyle Larson, to win the title. The mood at Phoenix Raceway has been strange, to say the least.

After the race, Hamlin answered questions from the media. When asked about whether NASCAR should eliminate overtime in the final race of he season, Hamlin didn’t really have an answer.

“I don’t know. Golly,” Denny Hamlin said. “In this moment, I never want to race a car ever again. My fun meter’s pegged.”

During his media availability, Hamlin was flat. He really didn’t know how ot react to what had just happened and didn’t have many answers, either. It is just one of those things you can’t control.

“Yeah, I don’t know. The last couple times I’ve been doing this, either wasn’t fast enough or circumstances,” Hamlin said of his previous Championship 4 runs. “There were some untimely yellows in the last time I did this. Yeah, I’m not really sure. Just takes all of a sudden everything we did preparing was right, where we guessed was right, and just didn’t work out, which is crazy.”

A six-win season ends in heartache. For all that Denny Hamlin accomplished this year, it just wasn’t enough. One restart and it all went away.

Kyle Larson ends Denny Hamlin’s championship hopes

When the dust settled, Kyle Larson was P3, Denny Hamlin was P6, and everyone wasn’t sure what had happened. By the time everyone realized that Hamlin’s hopes were dead, it looked like Brad Keselowski was going to win his first race of the season. Then there was a streak of yellow on the bottom of the track.

That streak of yellow turned out to be Ryan Blaney. The 12 car came out of nowhere with a head of steam. Before we knew it, Blaney was celebrating a race win, Larson had the Bill France Cup, and Hamlin was consoling his daughters.

It felt like in the weeks leading up to this race that Denny Hamlin was almost destined to win it. The momentum felt like it was on his side the entire time. With how quickly it all went away, it was a real shock to everyone at the track.