Hamlin furious after 'STUPID' mistake loses crucial NASCAR win

Denny Hamlin has hit out as a 'stupid' mistake which cost him a chance to all-but lock up a NASCAR Cup Series playoff place within four races of the season.

The Joe Gibbs Racing star was battling for the win last weekend in Phoenix with team-mate Christopher Bell, with Kyle Larson pushing the pair hard when the race restarted from caution with two laps to go.

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The 44-year-old had some time to reflect on his race after losing out by just fractions of a second in what is sure to be one of the closest races of the year.

Speaking that evening on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin admitted that given the chance to go back and re-run the last two laps of the race, he would have taken the chance to take the low line against Bell rather than the high line.

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Why didn't Denny Hamlin win in Phoenix?

A clearly frustrated Hamlin explained: “I did this same mistake with Harvick at New Hampshire (in 2019) … such an idiot. I wish I would do things differently in the moment, but it’s so hard when you’re in the moment. But I come off of Turn 2, underneath him, and I let off.

"I’m like, no, no, I don’t want to be on the bottom because I don’t want to get pinched. That was, like, the stupidest thing ever, and instead, I get behind him and was like, I’m just going to nudge him out of the way.

“Well, what did he do? He just went dead left, slowed way down, and said, go out there. Go out there and pass me. I did and he just turned right and said, ‘ha-ha, idiot’. That’s where it’s like I didn’t learn my lesson the first time.”

Bell's third win in a row means that there are still only two drivers with victories in 2025, after he joined William Byron who took the Daytona 500.

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