Breaking news

NASCAR Cup Phoenix II

Hamlin's title hopes come up short again: "That was all it had"

As it turned out, the two drivers who dominated Victory Lane during the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season were left without the championship.

Jim Utter

Edited: Nov 9, 2020, 7:43 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Kevin Harvick, who led the series with nine wins, was eliminated from further playoff contention last weekend at Martinsville, Va.

Hamlin, who had seven wins this season, barely advanced to the Championship 4 based on points out of Martinsville. He finished fourth in Sunday’s season finale at Phoenix Raceway but was the only title contender not to lead a lap in the race.

“We were a little off handling, but overall car speed, we just didn’t have enough,” Hamlin said. “Our next best teammate was 10th, so as an organization we have got to get a little better, especially on the short tracks.

“It seems like we were a little bit off all year, and that was all it had, that’s for sure. I was pushing for everything I had. We just didn’t quite have enough today, and we ended up fourth.”

The next-best Toyota in Sunday’s race was Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Martin Truex Jr. Kyle Busch was 11th and Erik Jones ended up 22nd.

None of the JGR drivers led a lap in Sunday’s race.

Just not enough

However, Hamlin said the difference between running fourth and contending for the win was “just a little bit every lap.”

“It was so, so small. At times we were pretty good and maybe I had the fastest car, but it was just a few laps here and there. We just needed a little bit more,” he said.

“Obviously, this package in particular we weren’t great this year and this was one of our better runs with it, but it just wasn’t enough really.”

Hamlin, 39, remained upbeat on his season, despite coming up short for the second consecutive year in the title race.

“No one has won more than we have over the last two years. Daytona 500 two years in a row, the final four two years in a row. I’m pretty proud of what this team is doing and what we are building toward,” he said.

“We will come back and do it again next year. I’m looking forward to it. We will win as many races as we possibly can to get ourselves back to Phoenix again with another shot.”

Hamlin will also expand his footprint in NASCAR next season, becoming a minority owner in a Cup team with NBA legend Michael Jordan that will field a Toyota for driver Bubba Wallace.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Chase Elliott wins the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship

Next article Team Penske had speed Sunday but it really needed a caution

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

2 h

TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale

Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Homestead

3 h

Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role

The surprising convergence behind F1's increasingly competitive 2026 season

Formula 1

The surprising convergence behind F1's increasingly competitive 2026 season

“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 7 h

“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts