Hendrick Motorsports star William Byron apologized to Denny Hamlin post-race at Phoenix on Sunday after playing an unwanted role in his NASCAR playoff heartbreak.
With four laps to go in Arizona, the race looked done, with Hamlin having dominated proceedings (he led 208 laps in total) and been well on the way to securing his first-ever Cup Series championship.
Byron was the car in second at that point, but the No. 24 then experienced a tire blowout, ending his own hopes of a Cup Series championship, and, ultimately, snatching it away from Hamlin.
Under the caution that the incident brought out, Kyle Larson - who appeared to be down and out at one stage - opted for only two tires, which gave him track position over Hamlin, who opted for four.
Crucially, however, several other drivers opted for the two-tire strategy, meaning that whilst Larson came out of pit road in fifth, Hamlin was down in 11th.
Ultimately, even on four fresher tires, it proved too much work to do for Hamlin in two laps, eventually finishing sixth, three spots behind Larson, whose third place was enough to secure his second Cup Series crown.
Byron sorry for causing caution
When Hamlin was addressing the media post-race, Byron came and joined him at the table, but before sitting down, took the chance to apologize to the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
“Sorry, man," Byron said. Hamlin swiftly responded: "It happens."
Despite it being his teammate Larson who won the championship, Byron added: "You deserved it."
Quizzed on why he felt the need to apologize, Byron explained: “It just doesn’t seem right, you know?”
“He had beat us, right? We’re running second, and four laps to go, you go into the wall and cause a caution. It sucks, right?
"I don’t want to be that guy, even if I’m in the Championship 4. That doesn’t really matter. I just don’t want to change the outcome, so it sucks.”
