Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman pit strategies nearly pay off

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Denny Hamlin stood with his hands on his hips and stared blankly through the reporters awaiting comment Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway, just moments after what could have been his first career championship slipped away.

Three late cautions thwarted what seemed like a winning pit strategy by crew chief Darian Grubb – to stay out on old tires while the other Chase for the Sprint Cup contenders pitted.

Hamlin held the lead late in the race, but the yellow flags allowed Kevin Harvick to catch and pass Hamlin on fresher tires.

"Disappointed in myself for making the call at the time, because now I can see and hindsight is 20/20," Grubb said. "But I think we had it wrapped up there before that."

As Harvick celebrated on a massive championship stage behind him, Hamlin said he didn't blame Grubb for making the call and said there wasn't anything he would have done differently.

"For the latter part of the race, we had the best car," Hamlin said. "Those cautions at the end, it kills us. We don't have a short run car. Then when we were on older tires there at the end, we were just a sitting duck.

"Things just didn't work out. If the race goes green, we very easily could be talking about this in victory lane."

The second-to-last caution also thwarted Ryan Newman's strategy. Crew chief Luke Lambert made an aggressive call to take only two tires, and it gave Newman track position to race Hamlin, who was on the older tires.

And with eventual winner Kevin Harvick buried in the field, it might have been a winning move. The caution, though, spoiled Newman's hopes despite finishing a season-best second.

"It's disappointing – don't get me wrong – but there's no point in being a sore loser," he said.

Car owner Richard Childress said the team would have "been in business" had the caution not flown because Newman was catching Hamlin and Harvick might not have had time to make up the deficit.

"It's a hard one to lose, you know?" Childress said. "To be that close…what can you say?"

As for Logano, his hopes disappeared before the other title contenders. On the second-to-last pit stop, his car slipped off the jack and resulted in him restarting 21st with 17 laps to go. He only made it back up to 16th before the race ended.

"Unfortunately, a great season like that makes this overall finish fourth because of one mistake, but that's what the rules are," said Logano, who would have easily won the title under the old Chase format. "We still feel like we did a lot better than fourth this season."