Watch: Infuriated Denny Hamlin unleashes a 3-word message from his Toyota after coming up short against teammate Christopher Bell

Denny Hamlin was infuriated after losing the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway to his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate by 0.049 seconds. It was the second-closest finish in the history of Phoenix Raceway, and Hamlin's reaction after crossing the finish line showed how much he hated losing out to Christopher Bell, who took his third consecutive victory of 2025.

Hamlin and Bell had two of the best cars in the field on Sunday, March 9. Having started the race from rows five and six, both JGR drivers pretty much stayed in the top 10 for the entire race, with Bell also claiming a victory in the second stage.

Hamlin and Bell were locked in the battle for the lead for most of the laps in the final stage with the #20 driver maintaining a consistent 0.5 seconds gap to the #11 car. Kyle Larson was close behind in third place.

A late caution on lap 305 of 312 caused by Ty Gibbs hitting the wall allowed both Hamlin and Larson to close in on Bell for the final restart. The #11 car of Denny Hamlin got a big push from Larson on the final lap after taking the white flag ahead of his teammate.

The #11 and the #20 were side by side going into turn three but Bell pushed Hamlin all the way up the racetrack to edge him out as they crossed the start-finish line. Hamlin was just 0.049 seconds behind Bell and vented his frustration on the radio.

"God Dam*it... Fu*k," Hamlin was heard saying in the onboard footage shared on X by Steven Taranto.

Despite the disappointment, Denny Hamlin sounded quite happy with the pace of his Toyota in a post-race interview. However, he claimed that he got used up by his teammate in the last corner and ran out of space.

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Denny Hamlin hates losing to his teammates

Denny Hamlin is one of the most successful drivers in the modern era of NASCAR with more than 50 wins under his belt. He almost perfectly started the 2025 season as he found himself in the lead of the Daytona 500 on the final lap before crashing out of the race.

His teammate, on the other hand, has had a perfect start to the season with three back-to-back wins in the last three races. In a recent episode of his podcast, Hamlin made it clear that while he hates losing, he hates seeing his teammates win more than anything else.

But this hate does not come from a bad place. He explained that teammates are the standard everyone is measured against as they drive the same cars, it hurts more when one loses to someone in the same car.

"There is nobody that I hate seeing win more than my teammate because I know he's driving the same thing that I'm driving. I love Christopher, he's a great dude. I don't want him to beat me, you always measure yourself off your teammates...I'm congratulating Heather (JGR co-owner) and Joe, it's a big win for the team. But as a driver, as a competitor, we do not like seeing our teammates win," Denny Hamlin shared via Dirty Mo Media.

With the second-place finish in Phoenix, Hamlin has jumped 10 places in the drivers' championship and currently sits in the seventh spot with 110 points.