disbelief

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Larson denied Denny Hamlin his first career championship when a late caution at Phoenix Raceway sent the title-deciding finale into overtime.

Hamlin was three laps from shedding the label as the greatest NASCAR driver to never win a championship when fellow title contender William Byron got a flat tire and hit the wall to bring out the caution.

Hamlin led the field down pit road and got four new tires on his Toyota; Larson only took two tires on his Chevrolet. It meant Larson was fifth for the two-lap sprint to the finish, with Hamlin back in 10th.

With so little time to run down Larson, Hamlin came up short with a sixth-place finish as Larson finished third. Ryan Blaney, who was eliminated from title contention last week, won the race.

It is the second championship for Larson, who won his first title in 2021 when he joined Hendrick Motorsports.

As Larson celebrated, Hamlin sat in his car motionless for several seconds, then wiped his face with a white towel, never showing any emotion.

“I’m just numb,” Hamlin said after consoling his crying daughters on pit road. “We were 40 seconds away from a championship. This sport can drive you absolutely crazy because sometimes speed, talent, none of that matters.”

Larson, who has been in a slump since his disastrous Memorial Day attempt to race both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, was also in shock.

“I really can’t believe it. We didn’t lead a lap and won the championship,” Larson said. “We had an average car at best and had the right front [tire] go down, lost a lap and got the wave around, saved by the caution with the wave around. It’s just unbelievable. What a year by this motorsports team.”

When Hamlin finally got out of his car he embraced his crew members but it was a scene of disbelief among the Joe Gibbs Racing crowd. Team members were crying, some sitting in shock on the pavement, Gibbs himself stood silent, one hand on his hip and a look of disbelief on his face.

It is the sixth shot at a title to slip away from Hamlin in his 20 years driving for Gibbs. He led 208 of the 319 laps and started from the pole.

“Nothing I could do different. I mean, prepared as good as I could coming into the weekend and my team gave me a fantastic car,” Hamlin said. “Just didn’t work out. I was just praying ‘no caution’ and we had one there. What can you do? It’s just not meant to be.”

He said crew chief Chris Gayle made the correct call with four tires, but too many others only took two, which created too big of a gap for Hamlin to close on Larson in so little time.

“Just numb. Feel like there’s still some racing left. I can’t believe it’s over but there’s nothing I can do but just suck it up,” Hamlin said. “I just needed 40 more seconds of green flag.”

Larson was OK during the race, but hasn’t won since early May, a slump that has now extended to 24 consecutive races.

Hamlin teammate Chase Briscoe finished 18th in his debut in the championship finale, while Larson teammate Byron was 33rd after his late issue. He felt awful for ruining Hamlin’s chance even though his Hendrick Motorsports teammate won the championship.

“I’m just super bummed that it was a caution obviously. I hate that. Hate it for Denny. I hate it for the 11 team,” Byron said. “I mean, Denny was on his way to it. I hate that. There’s a lot of respect there. I obviously do not want to cause a caution. If I had known what tire it was, known that a tire was going down before I got to the corner, I would have done something different.”

Fryer writes for the Associated Press.

CELEBRITY Traitors fans have been left in disbelief, as Alan Carr gave away a huge clue that he’s a traitor. 

The first ever all star edition of the BBC programme kicked off last night as fans saw Claudia Winkleman chose her THREE celebrity traitors to play the game.

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Comedian Alan alongside TV presenter Jonathan Ross and singer and Brit nominee Cat Burns were chosen to be the devilish three to cause mayhem in the game.

But viewers of the show have had their doubts so far about Alan’s ability as a traitor. 

This sentiment was highlighted even more during Thursday evening’s episode, as Alan winked at Jonathan after committing the first murder. 

After wondering around in a mild panic, he eventually headed into the kitchen with his friend Paloma Faith and actress Ruth Codd.

He committed the deadly act before heading down to the fire outside with other celebrities and winking at Jonathan to let him know he had fulfilled the brief.

He also said in another very telling move: “It’s done,” while subtly trying to let Jonathan know that he’d committed the murder. 

Fans took to X to share their shock at Alan’s wink and ‘it’s done’ statement.

One person penned: “Oh wow, Alan has to be the worst traitor to have ever existed.” 

Another questioned: “Did he really just wink at Jonathan?” while a third said: “Absolutely howling. As if Alan just winked at Jonathan in front of everyone.” 

A fourth person penned: “Oh Alan, talk about making it obvious.” 

And someone else quipped: “I’m in disbelief at Alan as a traitor so far. He’s making Linda look like James Bond.” 

Later in the turret, Jonathan and Cat asked him who he had chosen, and Alan revealed he had been forced to pick his friend Paloma.

The Traitors viewers were shocked that Alan had betrayed his pal, with one writing on X: “Noooooo Alan! Not Paloma!”

Another added: “Paloma girl. You was GOT.”

A third commented: “I cannot believe Paloma Faith is going to be dead by the end of the day…”

After committing the murder, all the celebrities turned up to breakfast, before Claudia arrived and told them to get ready for a funeral.

The celebrities than joined the procession before arriving at three coffins. 

They were then given clues to work out which three celebrities the Traitors had put in the coffins.

It ended up being Lucy Beaumont, Paloma and Niko Omilana.

Claudia then walked the line and dramatically closed the lid on Paloma, leaving the remaining celebrities absolutely gobsmacked.

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