Late crash thwarts Denny Hamlin’s hopes for first Brickyard win

Denny Hamlin had designs on another signature victory Sunday afternoon, adding another feather in his cap to a season where his win column has tabulated upward. Instead a hard hit left him, in his words, "gutted" and put the first tick mark in a far different column -- for DNFs. RELATED: Race results | Harvick holds on at Indy When a tire let go just eight laps from the end, Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota veered sharply out of the lead and into the Turn 1 retaining wall. Instead of celebrating his second straight NASCAR Cup Series win, he wound up 28th and out before the finish, ceding the lead to his top challenger and eventual winner Kevin Harvick. "Just, it's tough. I hate it for the FedEx team," said Hamlin, who fell to 0-for-15 over his Cup Series career at the 2.5-mile Indy track. "We didn’t do what we needed to do and it didn’t work out for us today. I had a fast car obviously and was stretching it out there but wasn’t pushing the right-front (tire) at all. It’s kind of roulette if you’re going to get one that will stay together or not and mine didn’t. You saw the end result. These big races -- things don’t go my way all the time. We’re still going to go next week and try to win the next one. We’ll do all we can." WATCH: See what happened to Denny Hamlin at Indianapolis https://twitter.com/dennyhamlin/status/1279968198704717830 Hamlin led 19 laps, taking control for the first time after the final-stage exchange of green-flag pit stops. Hamlin pitted one lap before Harvick and cycled out with a significant cushion over him before a caution period for Alex Bowman's crash bunched the field. When those who had stayed out came to pit road, Hamlin emerged with the lead for the home stretch. Harvick had been given some notice that trouble was potential looming for his foil, told that tire wear on Hamlin's No. 11 had been excessive. Hamlin's efforts didn't hold up under significant pressure from Harvick the rest of the way, unraveling what could have been a third consecutive 1-2 finish between the two heavyweights. "It’s been a great battle and those guys are great competitors," Hamlin said. "The last few weeks, it’s been a head-to-head with me and him. There’s probably not another guy I would rather battle with each and every week. Congrats to them and their team, they did a great job. Obviously, we had two very, very close and equal cars. They got it today."