Denny Hamlin: Sonoma was like ‘we pulled a Kyle Larson’ and just did not show up.

Denny Hamlin had a disappointing outcome at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday afternoon, as his race was gone before it really got started.

The No. 11 driver experienced a blown engine at the start of the Toyota/Save Mart 350, which isn’t something we see very often in the Cup Series anymore. It led in Hamlin finishing last, and the three-time 2024 winner lost his points lead over eventual race winner Kyle Larson.

After the dust settled on the race, during the most recent episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin presented the NASCAR world with some amusing jokes about his DNF as he coped with the aftermath.

“I’m not an engine guy. I would think that if you just ran more practice, you would’ve found it. It would’ve shown up in qualifying. If you ran four more laps of practice, it would’ve blown up at the end of practice, and then you wouldn’t have had all of these issues. But still, unfortunate,” Hamlin elaborated. “It was like we weren’t even there. We pulled a Kyle Larson on this race. We just didn’t show up.”

Of course, Hamlin is harkening back to Larson not racing in the Coca-Cola 600, which started a gigantic debate regarding whether the No. 5 should receive a waiver for the playoffs. Larson eventually received one, and now he’s back in victory lane after a win in Sonoma.

At the least for Hamlin, he can make light of what happened to him during the Toyota/Save Mart 350. Still, it wasn’t an ideal afternoon, and there was never any indication that his vehicle was about to be done for the afternoon when the engine went, according to the veteran driver.

“No, no [indication],” Hamlin told Jamie Little of FOX Sports following the engine blowing. “Just the gearing is a little weird for the track. There’s a lot of high-end RPM stuff — same as everyone else and just blew up on Lap 2. Not really sure. They’ll look at it and figure it out, but certainly not ideal.”

Prior to his DNF, Hamlin had five consecutive top-five finishes, dating back to his victory at Dover in late April.

Instead of another top five finish, Hamlin contributed to his terrible run by finishing last, as he has been P31 or lower in his last three road course appearances.

Denny Hamlin is hopeful that his Kyle Larson-type performances will be more like what we witnessed at Sonoma than what transpired during the Coca-Cola 600 for the rest of the 2024 Cup Series season.