SPEEDWAY, Ind. — With the Brickyard 400 entering its final quarter and Denny Hamlin in command, the 64-time NASCAR Cup Series victor began to think about the reality of possibly checking off one of his bucket-list items.
“We were fortunate to get that lead on that jump [of the penultimate restart], so you start thinking about [whether] it’s possible,” Hamlin said.
But the final caution flew on Lap 120 when John Hunter Nemechek tangled with Ryan Blaney entering Turn 3. Hamlin’s comfortable lead vanished, leaving him alongside his 23XI Racing driver Corey Heim for the ensuing restart.
That’s when everything unraveled — not only for Hamlin, but for Joe Gibbs Racing.
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Before getting inside the restart zone on a Lap 126 reboot, three JGR drivers — Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe in order — started playing bumper tag on the inside line. Hamlin was vulnerable as the leader, not wanting to get called for a restart violation. When he accelerated, Joey Logano, the second car on the outside line, gave Heim a push to clear Hamlin for the lead, blocking Hamlin to the apron off Turn 2.
Hamlin lost momentum down the backstretch as the No. 11 Toyota plummeted to fifth within a single lap; he remained there for the final 34 circuits. Meanwhile, Heim scored his second signature victory of the summer, also winning last month at Naval Base Coronado.
“It’s on the JGR guys that didn’t execute the restart very well,” Hamlin said of the organization’s collective loss. “I had [Bell] pushing me like 500 yards before the restart zone, and I can’t go until we get to the restart zone. He said he was getting shoved by [Briscoe] way, way, way back there.
“I don’t know, just definitely didn’t time it very well. Into (Turn) 2, I’m in the [marbles], and we’re not going to make a good corner. Everyone is fighting to try to win.”
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Bell stalked Heim in the closing laps but never found a way around him, crossing the start/finish line second for the sixth time in 22 races this season.
Ironically, Bell’s plan on the final restart wasn’t to challenge for the lead. It was to push Hamlin there.
“It obviously didn’t work out for Denny. Briscoe got onto me way early, and I was into Denny and Denny can’t go before the line,” Bell said. “It was very poorly timed between the three of us. It worked out for me, it didn’t work out for him, but we certainly could have executed that better.”
Briscoe took the checkered flag in fourth position, though he thought he was in position to capitalize on the poorly-executed restart. Down the backstretch on the launch, Logano side-drafted him, dropping the No. 19 Toyota back to defend Hamlin for the remainder of the race.
Briscoe’s mindset for the re-rack was to shove Bell into Hamlin so the three of them could have the best shot at delivering the crown-jewel victory for JGR. Instead, it got discombobulated; the organization hasn’t won at Indianapolis since 2016 when Kyle Busch won his second consecutive Brickyard 400.
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“I was shoving the 20, just trying to get him and the 11; if we all stay connected, that would have been the best chance,” Briscoe told NASCAR.com after the race. “I don’t know if that hurt us or not; I haven’t watched it back.
“It’s all about the restart and execution, and I thought we did a good job of that [throughout the race]; we just needed a little bit more.”
It wasn’t the first time Joe Gibbs Racing let a crown-jewel opportunity slip away because of late-race coordination in 2026. Toyota dominated the Coca-Cola 600 in May, but Hamlin and Bell battled each other at the front of the field, allowing Daniel Suárez to clear before inclement weather ended the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway 27 laps before the scheduled distance. Bell settled for second in that one, too.
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“We talked about what we can do better in pushing situations,” Hamlin said. “At Charlotte, we didn’t do great. I thought we’ve had a few that were certainly good, like the one before when we got the lead; [Bell] did a really good job of getting us to the lead.
“These things are about timing, and we just didn’t time it right.”
Another opportunity slipped away at Indianapolis for Hamlin. He now owns seven top-five finishes in 18 Brickyard 400 starts but is still searching for his first chance to kiss the bricks.