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Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin lost out to his teammate Christopher Bell by only 0.049 seconds to come in second place at the Shriners Children's 500 in Phoenix on Sunday. Both of the Joe Gibbs cars had the pace throughout the race to go for the victory, as they finished in first and second. However, in his post-race interview with Jamie Little, Hamlin said that he knew he was going to be used up by his teammate for the win.
It was a hat-trick of wins for Christopher Bell at Phoenix after winning at COTA and Atlanta. It was also the second-closest margin to victory at Phoenix after Kevin Harvick's win over Carl Edwards by 0.01 seconds.
Bell maintained about a half a second of advantage over Hamlin for the last 25 laps and looked set for a likely comfortable victory. However, Ty Gibbs hit the outside wall on lap 305 and brought out the caution flag. When the green flag fell with two laps to go, Denny Hamlin was in a position to win the race as he took the white flag ahead of his teammate.
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Hamlin got a great push from Kyle Larson on the front and the backstretch on the final lap, allowing him to stay side by side with his teammate. However, Bell ran him up the racetrack towards the fence as they came out of turn three and gained an advantage. After the race, Hamlin was understandably disappointed and explained that he knew his teammate was going to use him on the final lap to go for the win.
"You know, it's the first time we were able to get some clean air all day and obviously, our car was really fast. I really kind of wanted it to stay green there [...] We got a good restart, the #5 really gave me a great push on the frontstretch on the restart and then down the backstretch. So I had kind of a position on the #20 but I knew he was gonna ship it in there, he had to use me, he could, and obviously we just kind of ran out of racetrack there but great finish, great job by the whole Joe Gibbbs team to give us some fast cars," Hamlin told Jamie Little. (0:19 onwards)
Denny Hamlin scored 43 points at Phoenix and jumped up 10 places in the drivers' standings to grab the seventh spot. He sits at 110 points.
Larson hoped for Denny Hamlin and Bell to wreck each other
Both Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson have come tantalizingly close to victory in previous races. Hamlin was in the lead of the Daytona 500 with half a lap remaining before he crashed out. Larson was also in a three-way battle for victory at Atlanta when a caution favored Bell for the win. Both drivers were determined to stop Bell from earning his third consecutive victory.
A late race caution was exactly what they needed to put pressure on Bell. However, with the strong pace of the Joe Gibbs Toyotas, Larson didn't get a chance to make it a three-way battle for the win. After the race, the Hendrick Motorsports driver shared that he sat behind Denny Hamlin and Bell, hoping that they would come together.
"I felt like that was my only hope..." Larson explained (via Motorsport). (0:10 onwards)
"I thought being patient to try and keep them side-by-side down the back was good. I could have shot to the bottom, but I felt like I would have wrecked everybody there. Yeah, just kind of gave ourselves a shot for them to maybe get into each other and us squeak by. Good to finish third..."
The trio will be back in action on Sunday, March 16, for the Pennzoil 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where the race is scheduled to start at 3:30 pm ET.
