Denny Hamlin owned it. He knew he made a costly mistake.
In the closing laps of Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, he had waited out Tony Stewart, stalking the three-time Sprint Cup champion while waiting for him to make his own mistake. Hamlin moved close to the leader on the final lap — then smoked past the retiring driver to steal the lead on the final lap.
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But his run at the front didn't last long. In the final tight turns on the track, Hamlin knew Stewart was on his bumper. He checked his mirror — and slid a little wide. Stewart pounced, bumping Hamlin out of the way and storming to his first win of the season.
"He made a couple mistakes and allowed us to get pretty close, and then we just both wheel-hopped into [Turn] 7, and I just let off my wheel-hop a little bit so I could get to his rear bumper and get him out of the groove just a touch," he said of taking the lead. "It was perfectly executed, but I was going through the esses knowing that I needed to get the biggest gap that I could going into 7, and when he was two back or so going into 7, I just, I didn't run a low enough line in Turn 11 from wheel-hopping in Turn 7. I got the rears hot, wheel-hopped it a little bit again, got out of line, and obviously gave him the inside line.
"Once I knew he had position and we had a wall on the other side of us, … I knew, pretty good chance, that we were going to go in the wall."
Suddenly, Hamlin was finishing second in the race it just moments before appeared he had in hand.
For Hamlin, the stakes certainly weren't as high as they were for Stewart. He knew that.
Replay: What a finish! @TonyStewart and @DennyHamlin battle down to the wire. No. 14 wins at @RaceSonoma. https://t.co/TEIPH5kDjq
— FOX SPORTS: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 26, 2016
"I knew I needed a big gap," Hamlin said. "I didn't know if he would physically spin us out. I thought there was a very good chance of it because that's his opportunity to get in the Chase ultimately. I mean, how many more chances is he going to have? I think this is by far the best he's run all year, and he's in his final season, so his give-a-s— factor is probably really low, to be honest with you.
"I think that we were in a tough spot going into the final corner no matter what, but I still didn't execute as good as what I should have."
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Stewart missed the season's opening eight races recovering from a back injury and then got a NASCAR waiver that left him needing to win a race and break into the top 30 in ponts to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup. That win loomed for him on Sunday.
Hamlin didn't have anything to lose. He won the season-opening Daytona 500 — also in a dramatic final-lap pass — giving him that needed victory to make the Chase. He could afford to go all-out for the win; a loss didn't hurt him at all.
And so they clashed.
And, in the end, the former teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing showed their respect for one another.
"I made mistakes the last two laps," Stewart said. "… He knew where it was and he did the right thing doing it there; but if I could get to him, he knew what was coming. He told me he was proud of me. He knows what it means. We were teammates for a long time and we respect each other a lot."
But that doesn't mean they shied from battle. In the end, Hamlin seemed to have nothing but respect for the way they raced on the final lap — and the fact that Stewart had won in his final season.
"Tony has been ultra fair to me quite a bit," Hamlin said. "He's treated me really well my entire career. It's not like I gave him one by any means. He gave us an opportunity to move him, we did, and then we got it back. It's just part of the deal."