Denny Hamlin and his crew made a now-infamous call to take four tires late at Phoenix in 2025 when he was chasing the championship. Hamlin cycled out further back and just didn’t have enough in the tank to retake the lead.

It’s a decision the driver has probably scrutinized seven ways to Sunday. So when a similar call came in during this Sunday’s spring race at Phoenix, Hamlin knew all the potential scenarios.

Still, he and his crew opted to take four tires again. He explained the thinking on the Actions Detrimental podcast.

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think there was a way for us to win the race,” Denny Hamlin said. “That’s why I’m just very like, ‘Ehh, we finished where we finished.’

“Because I didn’t see a path to us winning and it honestly got started when we were third or second and then had that bad pit stop and went to ninth with 100 to go. That was like, I knew that was, that it was going to be really hard to win the race from that point on.”

As it turned out, when Denny Hamlin took his four tires with about 20 laps to go, it was a gamble. Would the racing stay green or would a caution shorten the number of laps run green?

As it turned out, Hamlin was burned by the caution flag coming out. So, too, was Christopher Bell, who also took four tires and, as a result, was hoping for a longer run.

Denny Hamlin broke down the options. Two tires or four?

“The reason I say that is even if, so had we stayed up front, then we’ve got the nerve to go two tires, because now we can control the front of the field,” he said. “But when I’m running fifth or sixth and I take two tires, OK, well I’m going to restart third, whatever it might be. That’s not my path to winning is. If I take four I’m going to restart where I did, 11th or 12th. There just wasn’t a path. You had to stay further up front to have the ability to make those bold calls.”

Bell was a little further up front. He went with four tires. He simply ran out of room to make up time thanks to the caution, much to the delight of eventual race winner Ryan Blaney.

“What did we run, 10 laps?” Hamlin asked. “If Bell gets a good jump, 20 laps on tires? Now if it was against anyone but Blaney I think he’s good. But when Blaney chose to take the two it was like, ‘Ugh, that’ll be a hard one to get around.’ Anyone else I think Bell blows right by him.”