what happened at Kansas <\/a>is a recent example of a race where he is still learning valuable lessons amidst his penultimate season.<\/p>\n\u201cThe 20 had us covered,\u201d Hamlin said after the race. \u201cI think he passed us about three or four times today. But I just learned from my mistakes earlier in the season and how I approach restarts. It really kind of started in the first corner. I was able to get — go to the bottom of the 20. I didn’t shift the car very well. He cleared but drove in really deep and allowed me to get beside him.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the next two laps, I kept side drafting then trying to drive in deep enough to clear him, and I realized he was not going to let me clear him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo at that point, I knew we were not making optimum lap time and corners. So I learned from my mistakes, and on the final lap, I said I’m going to roll the bottom. He’s probably going to drive in really deep thinking that I’m going to drive in deep, but I’m going to switch it up on him and get a good run off instead, and it was good enough to clear him.\u201d<\/p>\n
A tough loss for CBell
\n ![\"Three-wide](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/three-wide-battle-for-the-win-.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Three-wide battle for the win between Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota; Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota; Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota<\/p>\n
Photo by: Sean Gardner \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Bell took this one personal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t need anything,\u201d he said after the race. \u201cI had the best car and the right strategy and I just did not win the race.\u201d<\/p>\n
With each question that came his way, Bell was seemingly at a loss for how to articulate this defeat and just repeated some variation of \u2018I did not get the job done.\u2019<\/p>\n
The reality was more dynamic that that, however. Hamlin gave him a good push on the restart but then drove him pretty hard for several corners, which allowed Briscoe to make a run on both. Bell thought for a moment he was going to get a push from one teammate past the other but got taken three-wide instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristopher drove in there really deep and made it where Denny had to hit the bottom, and fortunately Denny didn\u2019t clear, because if he did, I had no shot to win,\u201d Briscoe said. \u201cSo I just tried to keep backing my entry up to get big runs that I could do something with on the straights.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor whatever reason, off that restart, I didn\u2019t have the turn I did earlier. I could get runs but not do what I needed to with them. They were driving in so deep, giving me every opportunity to do something, and I just needed to be on the bottom because we were just going to have to wash each other up the race track.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I was going to get the bottom and Denny covered it so my only option was to go to the middle and you don\u2019t want to be in the middle. I got, surprisingly, to Christopher\u2019s right rear and all of us went in there so deep that I washed up into No Man\u2019s Land.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell couldn\u2019t defend both of his teammates at once, and that was the deciding reality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that (Briscoe) had a run,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cI don’t even know where he was until I saw a replay. I didn’t know we were actually three-wide bottom. But at that point, I just said I’m going to roll the bottom, and wherever (Bell) goes, he goes, but I think that I can still stay beside him if I just hold it low and not try to drive in deep.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that he tried to not let me clear him and he also tried to clear (Briscoe) and just went too deep there and allowed me to clear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamlin was literally shocked when he later saw how close Briscoe made it.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Hamlin won this race the way he has continued to win into his 40s and in the ultra-competitive NextGen car era. He is the most studious veteran racer of his generation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cars are closer than they’ve ever been,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cNow, no doubt that the Toyotas in general have a little more speed. When I say a little, it’s nothing like the gap that it used to be when you could build your own cars and you had a new chassis every six weeks. I mean, you could outpace someone with your car speed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I don’t know, the drivers play more of a factor now. Certainly, the process that we have on our 11 car, I think, sets us apart from others. Then just I think it’s our ability to keep learning. This was a great example of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t know why I still have the speed that I have but I just approach every weekend the same as I always have. I keep a large notebook every week, and I just go through it and I jot things down that I think are important that are going to make me win next time if I fail this time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t know, I still — I love the process more than I love winning, truthfully.\u201d<\/p>\n
He won Nashville the way he lost Kansas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there’s many times that I failed in these restart scenarios far more times than this one success,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cSo just I’d learned from all the mistakes that I’ve made and knew why I was not good on restarts to start the year, and I fixed it on the last lap.\u201d<\/p>\n
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