CHICAGO — Denny Hamlin, whose mental toughness was once viewed as a weakness but is now a strength, and Kyle Larson, who prefers to avoid confrontation but showed he’s willing to embrace it, could be headed toward a drama-filled summer.
After previously downplaying the notion, Hamlin said this week on his podcast that his duels with Larson constitute a rivalry.
Larson, for his part, wants such talk to go away so he can focus on winning a second Cup championship.
With these two friends among the best drivers in the series — both are tied for the most wins this season with three and rank first and second in laps led, top-five finishes and stage points — they’ll likely be racing each other often.
“Every sport, every competition needs something like this,” NASCAR on NBC analyst Dale Jarrett said.
The last two weeks have shown how the simmering history between Hamlin and Larson can spark on and off the track.
Old feelings reawakened two weeks ago at New Hampshire. Shortly after Hamlin forced Larson up the track and passed him, crew chief Cliff Daniels told Larson on the radio that “it’s going to be on you whether you decide you want to take that or not.”
Larson responded: “I was trying not to take it.”
About two minutes later, spotter Tyler Monn told Larson on the radio: “(Hamlin) runs you like that every time. You know why? Because you let it happen.”
Larson fired back, telling Monn to “shut the (expletive) up.”
It was a revealing moment. Larson is normally unflappable and rarely confrontational.
“I think what happened there, to me, speaks volumes about the frustration level that this has become and knowing Kyle, he was fed up,” Jarrett said.
In the last two years, Hamlin and Larson have had a few high-profile run-ins.
Contact from Hamlin turned Larson at Atlanta in March 2022 as they raced in the top five at the end of the second stage. Both were eliminated. Each termed the contact accidental. Hamlin said that he was trying to help Larson, who echoed Hamlin’s sentiment.
In May 2023, they raced for the lead on the final lap at Kansas when Hamlin made contact with Larson. That sent Larson into the wall and Hamlin to the win.
About two months later at Pocono, Hamlin forced Larson up the track as they fought for the lead with seven laps to go. Hamlin went on to win. Larson said after the race that he “deserved to be raced with respect. … I got used up. I feel we’ve had a handful of run-ins and I’ve never had to reach out apologize. He’s always been the one to reach out to me.”
Between those incidents and Hamlin beating Larson all six times they’ve finished a Cup race first and second, it’s understandable if Larson has little patience left for Hamlin on the track.
Last weekend at Nashville, Hamlin was frustrated with how Larson raced him at the end of the second stage. Hamlin ran into the back of Larson’s car during that caution. Crew chief Chris Gabehart yelled at Hamlin on the radio to stop it and focus on winning the race.
In the second overtime restart, Hamlin led and started on the inside of the first row. Larson was behind him. Larson sought to move Hamlin but Larson’s car went up the track and hit Ross Chastain, turning him.
Afterward, Larson told NBC Sports’ Dave Burns that he was “just trying to race for the win. I was hoping to kind of get (Hamlin) out of shape and get me some clean air at the bottom. I knew being second row you’re kind of in trouble, so I was going to do what I could to get him washed up the bottom.”
Said Hamlin on his podcast this week: “I think (Larson) was OK with just crashing whoever was in front of him.”
Larson said Thursday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that he was racing Hamlin as he felt he had been raced.
“Nashville was really the first time I got to, I feel like in my mind, show that I’m … over the way I’ve been raced and now going forward, I’m ready to move on,” Larson said. “I’ve got zero issue at this point. I would like a little bit of respect on the racetrack and a little bit more room than maybe I’ve been given.”
Hamlin noted that the restart incident at Nashville was the second time Larson hit him in that race. Larson’s contact sent Hamlin into the back of Joey Logano’s car earlier in the event.
“If (Larson is) butt hurt over a lap that happened at the end of (New Hampshire), Ok, he wouldn’t give me an inch to clear,” Hamlin said on his podcast this week. “This is now three instances in a row. Now I feel like, ‘OK, I need to respond.’
“I’m in this for the long haul. I’m fine with the way we’re racing and it’s going to keep going. It’s going to keep getting raised.”
By calling this a rivalry and suggesting there will be less give and more take as shenanigans continue, Hamlin is dictating where these two could be headed.
This shows Hamlin’s evolution from the driver who lost the 2010 championship to Jimmie Johnson. Hamlin’s mental toughness was questioned and he later worked with a sports psychologist.
While Hamlin continues to seek that first Cup title, he is among the sport’s winningest drivers and has four Championship 4 appearances. That trails only Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Logano who have five each.
Partnering with Michael Jordan as owners of 23XI Racing also has its benefits. Jordan is perhaps the greatest teacher on mental strength and beating opponents.
All of this has been Hamlin stronger and bolder — even telling fans after his Bristol win last year that “I beat your favorite driver. All of them.”
Jarrett said Hamlin’s growth is natural.
“I think that it shows that his level of confidence in himself is much higher now and that he is using these type of things as motivation to keep himself there and in the moment and championship ready now,” Jarrett said.
“I think that it shows that his level of confidence in himself is much higher now and that he is using these type of things as motivation to keep himself there and in the moment and championship ready now,” Jarrett said.
That leads them into Sunday’s race on the streets of Chicago (4:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock). Hamlin won the pole for last year’s race. Larson won at Sonoma last month in the most recent road course race.
What happens if they race around each other this time?
“To move on from it, you’ve kind of got to forget about past history and I’m willing to do that,” Larson said this week on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “I’m going racing on my part. We’ll see how it all goes from here on forward.”
2. Can SVG do it again?
A year ago, former Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen impressed Cup competitors in winning the Chicago Street Race in his NASCAR debut.
“I don’t want to speak for everybody else, but he made me look bad,” Chase Elliott said after finishing third to van Gisbergen in that race. “I kind of think the rest of us, too.”
So how good will van Gisbergen be this year?
“I think (SVG) will be super good, again, for sure,” Elliott said recently. “And he’s had even more time driving these cars, which I think ultimately is just gonna make him better and the street course situation really suits his background really well, and that showed.
“Last year, obviously, he was lights out by far the best. But I do think everyone else will be better, for sure, and I’m curious to see how we stack up against a guy like that that has that much experience with the second try.”
Van Gisbergen’s street course experience vs. the rest of the Cup field is evident in how he runs the course.
“I think his awareness and feel for the walls and how close he can be (to the walls in the corners) is probably the biggest advantage that I see,” said William Byron, who has won two of the last four Cup road course races. “He’s very comfortable with that. Even watching him in the Sonoma Xfinity race, in (Turn) 11, he was really good there (along that wall). I just think his awareness and ability to run close to the different apexes is really critical.”
But that doesn’t mean van Gisbergen’s advantage will be as great this year.
“I think our setups have evolved and we’ve probably taken some things and learned some things, so I’m sure the competition will be that much better and prepared to race against him,” Byron said. “But he’ll still be good for sure.”
3. New site for Championship Weekend?
The new president of Homestead-Miami Speedway said it is a goal to return NASCAR’s championship weekend to the South Florida track.
“I haven’t been across those efforts, but I can tell you doing that is obviously a top priority,” said Guillermo Santa Cruz, who was introduced as the track’s president Wednesday. “We want to have the best races and the best of everything. How we get there, how that process comes along will be determined in time. … We’d love to bring it back.”
But it will take more than just wanting the race to get it back and Santa Cruz understands that.
“We have to work for that,” he said. “We have to earn it and there’s competition in that and competition takes many forms because there are cities that are willing to produce resources behind that. That’s what we’re working for, to make sure that we have the support, which I believe is there but it presents itself in every possible way. Not only the government but business and everything else and the fans.
“You want to make sure that when you put on a championship race that you’re ready for it, that everything is just so, everything is perfect … that takes a lot of work and a lot of resources. Those are the priorities and things that are definitely on my radar.”
The track hosted NASCAR’s season finale from 2002-19 before that event moved to Phoenix.
The championship weekend for Cup, Xfinity and Trucks has been held at Phoenix since 2020. The track has sold out the grandstands for the last six Cup races, including the race there in March.
Homestead’s location on the NASCAR calendar has moved since 2020. The track will be a part of the playoffs this year, hosting Xfinity and Truck races Oct. 26 and the Cup race Oct. 27.
The city council in Homestead agreed to a resolution in April to prepare a bid to return the Cup championship weekend to Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2026.
4. Tight race at bottom of Cup playoff standings
While Alex Bowman holds the final Cup playoff spot by 51 points, the real drama could come if there is another winner from outside a playoff spot.
Heading into Sunday’s race, Ty Gibbs, Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher and Bowman hold the final four playoff spots. They are separated by 19 points. Gibbs has 518 points, Chastain 514, Buescher 504 and Bowman 499.
Should a driver outside a playoff spot win and move the cutline up, one of those four will be outside a playoff spot.
With seven races left in the regular season, including Sunday’s Chicago Street Race, how each of those four teams plays strategy will be worth watching. Will they go for stage points when they have the chance? Or will they eschew stage points in hopes of putting themselves in a better spot to win?
Gibbs has not had a top-10 finish in the last five races and nine stage points during that time.
Chastain has two top 10s in the last five races and eight stage points during that time.
Buescher has three top 10s (all top-five finishes) in the last five races and has 19 stage points during that time.
Bowman has one top 10 in the last five races and seven stage points during that time.
5. Numbers to know
3 — Road course wins by Tyler Reddick. All have been in the Next Gen car.
4 — Wins by Ford drivers in the last seven races. That’s victories by Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano.
7 — Career road course wins for Chase Elliott but none of those have come in the Next Gen car.
8 — Consecutive weekends Team Penske has scored a victory in either NASCAR, IndyCar or IMSA. Joey Logano’s win last weekend at Nashville extended that streak.
12 — Top 10s by Chris Buescher on road courses in the Next Gen era, the best total in the series.
29 — Percent of laps in the last six races that Christopher Bell has led.