Denny Hamlin breaks silence on the untold side of William Byron's Daytona 500 triumph

Denny Hamlin has spoken out about William Byron's second consecutive Daytona 500 win. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was in contention for his fourth Daytona 500 victory, but final lap chaos caused the elusive trophy to slip through the Joe Gibbs Racing driver's hands.

After missing out on the championship in the past season, Hamlin showcased his improved performance since the preseason began at The Clash, posting a third-place finish. He then began the season-opener Daytona race in eighth place and led six laps to surge among the frontrunners, Austin Cindric, Cole Custer, Chase Briscoe, and more.

Hamlin's #11 JGR Toyota could've claimed its fourth Daytona 500 win, but hard racing between his teammate Briscoe and Haas Factory Team's Custer triggered a pile-up, collecting Hamlin in the disaster. William Byron, however, was at the right place at the right time and, hence, saved himself from the wreck to secure another crown jewel race win.

That said, Denny Hamlin expressed his views about the #24 Chevy driver's triumph. He outlined that Byron's win was attributed to luck and that it's not something you want to brag about. The JGR driver further said that the ideal scenario would've been for the victory to come as a cumulative effort of the team.

"That's not what you want to hear, Hamlin said about Byron admitting to his luck to the press. You want to hear, 'My team brought an amazing car, we had great strategy, and at the end I made the move to win the race'...It's just not fair to William, it's not fair to the 24 team," via Actions Detrimental (12:36).

Denny Hamlin emphasized that statistically, the circumstances under which Byron won won't matter, and the lore of the final lap drama would soon be forgotten.

"It's all going to count the same to them in the record books, record books gonna show you he went back to back, won the race, and in years past, five-ten years from now, nobody will remember."

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Denny Hamlin details his helplessness during the Daytona 500's final lap

Denny Hamlin and Austin Cindric were in for a fierce battle to add another Daytona 500 victory to their resume. The former led the final restart on Lap 200, but Cindric got a push that propelled him ahead of Hamlin off Turn 2. At that time, 23XI Racing's rookie Riley Herbst briefly lost control and slid on the infield but regained control, preventing a caution.

It's worth mentioning that had the officials raised a flag during the white flag lap when Herbst spun, Cindric would've won the race as he dominated the pack. But that didn't happen and Hamlin's shot at the triumph was saved.

However, moments before taking the checkered flag, Custer came side by side with Hamlin on the outside, and then Briscoe's rear-ending sparked the chaos. Following the heartbreaking ordeal, the #11 Toyota driver revealed why he didn't block Custer, pressing that he was out of options.

“It was gonna be close, I thought I had a really big push from the #19 (Briscoe). I had the ability to turn left and get myself clear of the two, so I had—I thought I was in a really good spot. That's why I chose not to block the #41 [Cole Custer]’s run down the back stretch is that, you know, it's okay to be side by side, like on the last lap and going through the last few corners, but I didn't think I could’ve done anything differently; it just didn't work out,” Hamlin said via Bob Pockrass.

After a P24 finish at the Daytona, Denny Hamlin has opened the 2025 Cup Series season ranked 20th.