Bubba Wallace’s spotter gives his take on Denny Hamlin’s crew chief’s four-tire call at Phoenix

Freddie Kraft shared his verdict on Denny Hamlin's crew chief calling for four fresh tires on the overtime restart at Phoenix Raceway. That call effectively lost him the championship, as his competitors were all on a two-tire stop and were out on track before Hamlin was.

Sunday's championship race was Hamlin's best shot at the long-elusive title. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver put on a show with 208 laps up front and was poised for the win. However, when William Byron crashed into the walls and triggered an overtime restart, everything went awry for Hamlin.

With the pace that he had, Hamlin's crew chief, Chris Gayle, went for a four-tire stop, but Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson had chosen two tires, while many cars decided to stay out as well. This essentially placed the No.11 driver on the fifth row upon restart, leaving him at a massive deficit to title-winner Larson.

On the latest episode of Door Bumper Clear podcast, Bubba Wallace's spotter shared his take on the situation, saying,

"I think there's a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks saying Gayle should have done two[tires]. Obviously in the hindsight, yes, he probably should have done two. For Gayle, he just put four on and it worked out, he took the lead off a turn too essentially, on the first lap, so I got the best car, I'm going to fire four on it and let my guy go execute a restart like he just did and win the championship." [0:15 onwards] "So I don't even know that even if Lambert told him these guys are coming on two, he probably said, 'All right. I don't give a sh*t, like we're gonna go beat him like we just did," he added.

Chris Gayle had also opened up about Denny Hamlin leaving Phoenix without a title. The crew chief admitted defeat, but believes Hamlin is still a champion in his eyes.

The No.11 team was also the winningest one this season, notching up 6 victories and 14 top-5s. The JGR crew ultimately finished second in the drivers standings.

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Joe Gibbs addresses Denny Hamlin's 'heartbreak' at Phoenix

Denny Hamlin's JGR team owner, Joe Gibbs, was at a loss for words for Sunday's championship race at Phoenix. When NASCAR analyst Bob Pockrass asked him for a comment, the 84-year-old had this to say.

"We really did this. It's a heartbreak for everybody here, so I don't think there's much else you can say about it."

Kyle Larson, on his part, acknowledged Denny Hamlin's misfortune and admitted that it's 'awkward' to win the title this way. Notably, the HMS driver had not lead a single lap in the 319-lap event, while his last victory was in May at Kansas Speedway.

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Edited by Vignesh Kanna