Denny Hamlin was three laps away from the NASCAR Cup Series championship when it slipped out of his hands at Phoenix Raceway. Kyle Larson was the driver who benefited, even though Hamlin had led 208 laps and looked set to finish the job. That ending stayed with Larson, too. He admitted feeling bad for Hamlin, an awkward reaction for the man celebrating the title. Nearly a year later, Larson has little sympathy left, and his explanation goes beyond what happened at Phoenix.

“We knew the format, and he did as well,” Larson said on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour.

There is a reason those words carry more weight now. Denny Hamlin’s 2025 defeat came in a single race, after he had controlled much of the afternoon. This time, NASCAR has brought back a ten-race Chase, giving drivers a longer stretch to prove they deserve the championship. Larson has made the most of that opportunity, while Hamlin has watched his early advantage disappear.

Larson did not pretend last year’s ending was easy to watch. Hamlin had led 208 laps at Phoenix and looked capable of closing out the title. Then William Byron’s crash brought out a caution, and the final pit stops changed the race. Hamlin took four tires while Larson’s team chose two. The shorter stop gave Larson track position, and he finished third to secure his second Cup championship. Hamlin came home sixth.

“I don’t know. I mean, there was definitely an element last year in the race at Phoenix where I did feel bad for him. That was such an awkward feeling. It was just an awkward position for me to be in, to even have to feel that way, you know?”

It was an unusual admission from the driver who benefited. Larson had no reason to give away credit for his team’s decision, yet he understood what Denny Hamlin had lost. For a driver who had spent years chasing his first title, the chance had been right there. A caution and a restart took it away.

But Larson’s sympathy has limits, and the 2026 season explains why.

NASCAR’s return to The Chase changed the championship calculation. Sixteen drivers qualified for a ten-race contest, with no eliminations after individual races. Points carry through to the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. A win is worth 55 points, while stage points offer another way to build a lead.

Denny Hamlin entered the Chase as the regular-season champion, with a 25-point bonus and four victories behind him. He had earned a strong starting position. Larson, by contrast, entered as the seventh seed after a season that had not always gone his way. The defending champion needed a better postseason to make up the difference.

He found it at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway and Kansas Speedway, winning both races and building momentum when the championship began to matter most. Hamlin remained competitive, but he could not match Larson’s run. Larson acknowledged that his rival had not simply driven poorly.

“But this year, I feel like he’s performed really well. It’s not like he’s had a… In his defense, maybe there’s been some bad luck and things, but Phoenix was definitely bad luck.”

That distinction is important. Larson is not saying Denny Hamlin lacks the speed to win a championship. He is saying that one unfortunate race and a ten-race points battle are different tests. Hamlin’s regular-season results gave him an advantage, but the Chase still required him to keep scoring when the pressure increased.

Talladega Superspeedway made the gap harder to ignore. On October 25, Larson won the YellaWood 500, recovering from a late-race shuffle that dropped him back through the field before charging to the front again. It was his first victory at Talladega.

Denny Hamlin finished eighth after surviving the late chaos, but Larson gained valuable ground. The standings put Larson at 2,441 points and Hamlin at 2,368, a 73-point gap with two races left.

The post "We Knew The Format & He Did as Well"- Kyle Larson Shuts Down Sympathy Talk Over Denny Hamlin's Title Heartbreak appeared first on EssentiallySports. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.