“Hats off”: Kyle Larson reacts to Denny Hamlin’s ‘rare’ move in pursuit of his 60th NASCAR Cup Series victory

Kyle Larson tipped his hat to Denny Hamlin's win at Las Vegas. The Hendrick Motorsports driver broke down Hamlin's strategy to pass him in the South Point 400.

Hamlin found himself outside the top five on the final restart, while Larson was eating at Chase Briscoe's lead up front. However, the No.11 driver chased down the field on fresher tires and eventually caught up to Larson.

The JGR ace passed Larson on the outside lane and got past Briscoe the same way. The result marked his 60th career win and ties him with Kevin Harvick for tenth in the all-time wins list.

NASCAR reporter Claire B Lang shared an excerpt from Larson's post-race interview, where he assessed Hamlin's charge to the front.

"He must have nailed the bottom behind me, got inside. It was over from there. Yeah, he did an awesome job. He got up on the wheel there. I felt like I was up on the wheel. He did a really good job. I tried to take his line away in three and four. He got to my outside. Rarely do you see Denny do that. He did a great job. Hats off to them," he said.

Kyle Larson later admitted defeat and shared that he tried every trick in his arsenal. The result, however, has him in second place with 35 points above the cutline.

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"We don't want to see them win": Kyle Larson on Team Penske's title hopes

Kyle Larson reflected on the upcoming playoff races and hoped that Team Penske doesn't notch up a win. According to the HMS driver, a Penske win would prove costly since they're fast on flatter tracks like Phoenix Raceway, the site of the championship four race.

In a post-race interview with NASCAR analyst Bob Pockrass, Larson had this to say about title favorites.

“Right now, as long as a Team Penske car doesn't win the next two races... or I wouldn't say that. They're not in a must-win. But obviously, we don't want to see them win because they will be crazy fast at Phoenix,” he said [1:16] “If they don't make it, then I think it's wide open. I think the #11 (Denny Hamlin) is the only one guaranteed right now, so he would be the favorite,” he added.

Kyle Larson has finished runner-up for two consecutive races now. He previously finished behind Shane van Gisbergen at Charlotte Roval.

The last time Larson won a race was at Kansas, and he's yet to win a playoff race. His HMS teammate, Chase Elliott, won in the playoff race at Kansas. Notably, Hamlin was the most dominant driver that day, leading up to 159 laps in the 273-lap event, but Elliott snuck by the JGR driver when he was battling Bubba Wallace for the lead.

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Edited by Vignesh Kanna