Denny Hamlin’s performance is clearly frustrating him as well. He always seems to race in his grasp before it all slips away. This got even worse for the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran after his outing at the Coca-Cola 600 when the same thing happened once again.

Hamlin had dominated through Stage 2 and was among the fastest cars throughout the night. But the sudden ending of the race around 27 laps early just paid dividends to Daniel Suarez, who had held the lead after a two-tire strategy gamble.

This loss was just a speck in a long list of Hamlin’s late-race failures despite excellent speed on the racetrack. The three-time Daytona 500 winner detailed how painfully close the No. 11 team came to controlling the race late.

"Oh, again, I missed beating the 20 off pit road by like that much. Twice, twice," Denny Hamlin said on his "Actions Detrimental" podcast. "And one of the times, I had them, but then I hit all that crap in the pit box in front of me from the car that caught on fire. And so I’m leaving, I’m like, we’re good, we’re good, and I hit the stuff, and I lose it, and then here comes the 20."

The veteran then added how such little margins in the pit lane let the race slip away from him, and the two other drivers involved were Christopher Bell and Daniel Suarez.

"Collectively, we lost the race on pit road by like four inches combined twice. And that either is, I’m starting on the front row with Suarez both those times, or I’m having to try to push Bell," he added.

Denny Hamlin believed his car was perfect and ready to win the Coca-Cola 600, but ill-timed rain just ended his endeavor.

"We ran that entire race planning for the last 100, the last 50. We had it right when it really mattered, but the race didn’t finish. Like, we were fast. I thought the field was gonna have their hands full with us for the last run."

This loss presents itself in a long list that seems to provide no respite to the JGR driver despite the weight of his efforts. Let’s take a look at other such instances that have defined his season.

Denny Hamlin’s Season Keeps Turning Into A Story Of Perfect Timing Gone Wrong

Denny Hamlin’s 2026 season has become one of the biggest contradictions that you can imagine. The JGR driver has led around 600 laps this year, including 134 at Las Vegas and 131 at Kansas, yet almost all major races seem to be slipping away from his control.

This problem was showcased best in Kansas. Hamlin was leading the entire race, even until the last two laps, and was set to win the race. Just before that, Cody Ware spun, which triggered a caution right before the white flag. Hamlin then lost control of the race on the restart and fell to fourth.

The pattern is also not one that appeared this year, but has been a continuing menace. Even during the 2025 championship, an example arises at Phoenix. Hamlin led for 208 laps before a late caution with four laps remaining erased his advantage and dropped him to sixth in overtime.

This issue of almost getting the juicy fruit but never a bite seems to be too real for Hamlin. But even at this stage, he must not forget that he has something that’s most important: pace. All he needs to do now is drag his machine to the finish line.

Written by

Uday Jakhar

Edited by

Yask Kotak