“He’s been a great friend of mine. I hate for him that the attention is shifted a little bit away from him and his Championship, because there’s a difference in deserving and should have been, right?
“I think there’s not one person that should ever question his deservingness of being a champion. That’s what I don’t like to see.
“But he’s a great friend of mine and if it wasn’t me, I was definitely happy for him. I was just trying to do the right thing as a friend and regardless of my feelings and emotions that evening, it was important for me to go to show him support.”
Asked how long he stayed, Hamlin replied: “Not long.
“It won’t be as agonizing as having to sit through two hours of today (Awards Banquet). You could say we’re the only sport that blank a lot of things, but having to make the losers sit there and celebrate the winners is just one of those extra things we have to do in our sport that’s painful.”
Larson told Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour about his celebrations, saying: “By the time we got out of there, I think it was like and got to the house we’re staying in and showered, got some In-N-Out Burger, and headed straight for Oldtown Scottsdale.
“So, it was good. It was more than just the five team that was out there. All the champions actually ended up being out.
“So (Xfinity Series champion) Jesse Love was out there. (Craftsman Truck Series champion) Corey Heim, even Connor Zilisch, even Denny, Denny came out too. So that was really cool. And yeah, some people from NASCAR. So it was a good group and everybody had a good time.”