Everybody felt the pain for Denny Hamlin in Phoenix on Sunday night - even his most bitter NASCAR Cup Series rivals.

The 44-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing superstar was on the brink of finally claiming his first title as he led for 208 laps and still headed the field deep into the 2025 Championship Race.

But then, with just three laps remaining, William Byron blew a tire to send the race into overtime as one final caution flag came out.

Hamlin then took four new tires during the resulting pit stop, while many rivals (including eventual champion Kyle Larson) stopped for only two. It would prove to be a fateful decision which would define his whole season.

Denny would restart down in 10th place and while he did haul himself back up to sixth, it was not enough as Larson’s third-place finish clinched a second Cup Series title for the Hendrick Motorsports ace.

Lost in the drama was eventual race winner Ryan Blaney, but the Team Penske star - Cup Series champion himself back in 2023 - was painfully aware of what was happening behind him.

Racing sucks sometimes - Ryan Blaney

Afterwards he told media: “Yeah, I was aware where those guys were at. But I was so close to the front that I wasn’t around them too much. I didn’t have to pass them and put them in that spot.

“As far as the 11 camp, there’s part of me that does feel bad for that group. They had a great race car. There were some runs of the race where he was a little bit better than us, there were some runs where I was a little bit better. But I thought we were the two best cars.

“Yeah, I mean, had the race locked up and the 24 blew a tire, there’s nothing you can do about that. It’s just unfortunate racing luck of it happening that time when he had it locked up.

“Yeah, I mean you do have to feel for that group and Denny - doing a good job all day and it just not playing out for him. But that is racing, it sucks sometimes.”

Hamlin camp should be proud

Despite the shattering pain of another championship near miss, with his terminally ill father watching on TV, Hamlin and his crew should not be too downhearted according to Blaney.

“They can hang their heads about it but they should be very proud of the effort they put in today - they had the fastest race car here and just one of those things where it doesn’t work out.

“It looked like it was gonna go in his favor today, but unfortunately for him, it didn’t.”