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Opinion: Hamlin did nothing wrong at Kansas – even if it didn’t look good

The conversation around NASCAR this week is the way Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway ended when Denny Hamlin tried to pass Bubba Wallace on the final lap, ultimately allowing Chase Elliott to steal the victory. 

Was it a move that Hamlin should have even tried to make if it was going to end up with neither one of them winning? Why didn’t he protect the car that he co-owns? 

There is no correct answer. One’s stance on the topic depends on how they feel about the drivers involved, their opinion of what racing entails, and, certainly, what is acceptable on the final lap of a race. And acceptable between teammates. Or between driver and employee.

“Just super disappointing, obviously,” Hamlin said. “I wanted it bad. It would have been 60 (wins) for me, and the team did an amazing job with the car. It was really, really fast. They gave me everything I needed. I got the restart I needed, just couldn’t finish it there on the last corner. Got really, really tight with the [No.] 23 and … we let the [No.] 9 win.”

The body language from Hamlin and Wallace said as much as their words did in post-race interviews. Disappointment. Disbelief. The frustration from Wallace, who had flipped Hamlin off under the cooldown lap, and then as he gave the quickest and most awkward greeting to him on pit road before walking away. 

Hamlin did nothing wrong. If anything, he served as the reminder that NASCAR and its fans should want, which is seeing drivers going for broke on the final lap of a race, especially a Cup Series playoff race. It doesn’t matter who is driving the car in front of them because that driver is what’s standing in the way of victory.

No hint of team orders in NASCAR is ever well-received. Any perception of drivers taking it easy or being reluctant to make a move is the quickest way to start an uproar. Hamlin pushing Wallace down the backstretch and following him across the finish line would have made this week’s conversation about his lack of effort, ownership meaning more than his driver responsibility, and so on.

Joe Gibbs would have wanted an explanation. Sport Clips would have wanted an explanation. The men and women who work on Hamlin’s cars at the race shop and those who go to battle with him at the racetrack would want to know why another driver and organization winning was better than them winning. The success of 23XI Racing doesn’t benefit Hamlin’s No. 11 team. They don’t get paychecks, bonuses, or anything else from those drivers going to victory lane. Hamlin is their horse, and they do their jobs with the expectation that Hamlin is going to deliver on his end of the bargain.

Except, even though Hamlin, or any Toyota driver for that matter, did nothing wrong, it’s easy to make arguments on both sides. Wallace has every right to be upset that he didn’t win the race, and that he was put into the wall by his own team owner. 

Hamlin shouldn’t have backed off and let someone else win, even if it’s a car he co-owns, and one that is fighting to remain in championship contention. It’s an incredible coincidence, however, that a week after Hamlin created a conversation about how teammates should race each other, Toyota drivers didn’t take care of each other on the final lap at Kansas, which took away a chance for either one of them to win.

“Well, to even have a shot at the win with the way we started … you could have fooled me,” Wallace said. “We missed it on the fire-off speed. So, I just really appreciate the team. Two years ago, I’d probably say something dumb. I mean, he’s a dumb (expletive) for that move, for sure, I don’t care if he’s my boss or not. But we’re going for the win, and I hate that we gave it to Chevrolet there. The Toyotas were super-fast and proud to be driving one. I thought it was meant to be, and then it wasn’t.”

Perhaps the move Hamlin made would not be as much of a talking point as it is if he had made it work. Hamlin, who fought power steering issues throughout the final stage, getting tight underneath Wallace and moving them both to the wall made the optics even worse when neither came out the other side.

“I don’t know, man,” Elliott said. “Everything worked out perfectly for me.”

Toyota drivers were lined up first, second, third, and fourth on the final lap. But a Chevrolet driver won. The turn of events was reminiscent of the 2024 spring race at Talladega Superspeedway, when Ford had three drivers clear of the field off Turn 4 on the final lap, and a block gone wrong resulted in a Toyota driver’s victory.

The drivers in both cases, Hamlin at Kansas, Michael McDowell and Brad Keselowski at Talladega, did what they were supposed to do. On the final lap, it’s every man and team for themselves. They should be racing for the win. But it’s never a good day for those involved when it goes so sideways that someone else takes advantage.

The end result Sunday at Kansas Speedway was the worst-case scenario. However, how the situation ultimately played out, with drivers racing each other because winning was what mattered, was the best-case scenario at the end of a long afternoon.