KANSAS CITY, Kan. — When Denny Hamlin walked out of victory lane at Kansas Speedway on Sunday evening, having used a last-lap pass to win a thrilling NASCAR Cup Series duel with Kyle Larson, it was just in time to hear his crew chief make a bold proclamation.
"He's the most talented race car driver in the world," Chris Gabehart said.
Which was awkward, because Gabehart wasn't talking about his own driver.
"Tells you what he thinks about me," Hamlin said with a wry grin.
Gabehart was referring to Larson, who was leading in the closing laps on a sizzling day in the heartland — but it was Hamlin who was better this time.
Hamlin spent about 30 laps in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota stalking Larson before making a couple of failed attempts at the lead late in the race. Finally, heading onto the back stretch on the final lap, Hamlin pulled alongside the in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet and made the slightest of contact, sending the 2021 Cup Series champion bumping into the outside wall and giving Hamlin a clear path to the finish line.
The victory ended a 33-race winless drought for Hamlin dating to last year's Coca-Cola 600. And along with giving him a record fourth win at Kansas, it gave JGR its 400th all-time win on NASCAR's top circuit and brought the 42-year-old Hamlin within one of a milestone 50th Cup Series victory.
"I was sideways. He was sideways. I knew it was going to be close whether he could clear me," Hamlin said. "I was grinding his left side, trying to keep the side draft as much as I could. It's such a super-sensitive part, and I hooked him at the end."
Hamlin said he planned to speak with Larson about the finish at some point.
"I was really loose," said Larson, whose 22 Cup Series career wins include two this year. "He was able to finally get my inside off two. It seemed he was side drafting me aggressively. I don't know if he finally got me turned sideways, but turned me into the outside wall and he got the win."
So what does Gabehart think of his own driver?
"I'm so proud of Denny to work over — in my view — the most talented race car driver in the world," he said.
Larson finished second and his teammate William Byron, who was two laps down for more than 50 laps during the middle portion of the race, rallied to place third. Bubba Wallace, who won the fall race at Kansas Speedway last year, was fourth in a Toyota for 23XI Racing, the team Hamlin co-owns with Michael Jordan. Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain rounded out the top five in another Chevy, and Team Penske's Joey Logano was sixth in the best finish for a Ford driver.
Chastain, who has drawn the ire of many of his competitors this season with his aggressiveness on the track, found himself in another heated confrontation Sunday. His car made contact with Noah Gragson's Legacy Motor Club Chevy with about 60 laps to go and sent him for a spin, and Gragson walked up to Chastain afterward to make his displeasure known.
Gragson put his hands on Chastain, who responded with a sweeping right hook that appeared to connect. Gragson tried to return the punch, but he was pulled away by security and NASCAR officials.
"I'm sick and tired of it," Gragson said. "The guy runs into everyone. When you have guys like Chase Elliott and other guys telling you to beat his ass, everyone is just sick of him."
Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champ who drives for Hendrick, has been voted the most popular Cup Series driver by fans the past five years.
Chastain accepted some of the blame for the spin but didn't have much to say about the punch.
"I got tight off four for sure," Chastain said. "Noah and I have a very similar attitude on the race track. We train together, we prepare together, we know every little bit about each other. I definitely crowded him out of four."
Two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch had railed against Chastain over the radio before crashing out of the race on a restart. Afterward, Busch seemed to take aim at the performance of the Next Gen car, which he said made it too difficult to pass.
"Not racing like it once used to be," the 38-year-old Richard Childress Racing driver said after dropping an on-air expletive. "You're faster than a guy, you run him down three-tenths a lap, and you stall when you get there. Part of it's the car. They can aero block you, pinch you, burn up your tires and do everything else to hold their position, and then you get passed from behind. Very frustrating."
Hamlin took the opening stage for his second stage win of the season, and Martin Truex Jr. — coming off Monday's win in last the rain-delayed race at Delaware's Dover Motor Speedway — finished second as the top four spots and six of the top seven in the stage belonged to Toyota.
The second stage ended in a mess when a caution flag flew and the leaders pitted with eight laps to go. Logano moved to the front, tying the track record with the 26th lead change in the race. And when the green flag dropped, Busch jammed behind a four-wide move and went for a spin, bringing out another caution and giving Logano the stage win.
Next up for NASCAR is "Throwback Weekend" at South Carolina's Darlington Raceway, and it's increasingly become a family affair. Elliott's No. 9 Hendrick Chevy will look like his father Bill Elliott's car from 2003; Ryan Blaney's No. 12 Penske Ford will pay homage to father Dave Blaney's old sprint car; and the Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford of Harrison Burton will look like father Jeff Burton's old paint scheme.