Denny Hamlin falls one spot short of trifecta

In his quest for NASCAR history, Denny Hamlin fell one spot short of winning three consecutive NASCAR Cup Series races Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Hamlin finished second in the Food City 500, 2.2 seconds behind race winner Kyle Larson, who led 411 of the 500 laps.

“It was all I had to keep up there, glad we could give a little run,” Hamlin said of the end of the race. “This weekend, we’re all thinking of Jon Edwards’ family, Al Pearce, Shige Hattori, we’ve lost a lot of great people in our sport over the last week, so our thoughts are all with them.”

Hamlin’s Top-5 effort extends his streak of Top-5 finishes to four consecutive. The longest Top-5 consecutive streak of his career is six straight races, when he accomplished the feat in 2021.

Despite not leading a lap in the race, Hamlin finished the opening two stages inside the Top-10, collecting 15 stage points.

Hamlin earned 50 total points, the second-most of the field only to Larson, maintaining his second spot in driver’s points.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver chipped away 19 points at William Byron’s point lead, who finished sixth, to 30 points.

“It has been a great run here over the last month,” Hamlin said. “We’ve been really good. Just have to continue this momentum.”