Denny Hamlin takes a brutal 4-word jibe at himself on the radio during Kansas Cup race

Denny Hamlin experienced a faulty clutch system early in the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway. In a radio transmission caught by NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass, Hamlin described the misfortune as a common occurrence in his career.

The Next Gen car uses a sequential gearbox, similar to racecars from series like the World Rally Championship (WRC), which comes with a clutch, primarily to move from a standstill. Without a clutch, the 44-year-old had a slow pit stop as the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing crew members had to push the car off the box to get the Toyota back on the track.

The mechanical issue, along with a mistake from the front tire changer, caused Denny Hamlin a 17.4-second stop. As a result, he lost seven spots on the pit road.

Bob Pockrass took to X (formerly Twitter) to share what the #11 driver told his team about the faulty clutch system.

"Hamlin tells his team he has [no] clutch. 'Story of my career,'" the NASCAR Insider wrote.

Unfortunately, the gearbox eventually gave up after failing to get the racecar up and running from the pit box. His car was sent to the garage for repairs on lap 200 before he retired from the race.

Due to on-track misfortunes, Hamlin has come short of a championship-winning run in his two-decade Cup Series career. He is one of the two NASCAR drivers in history to win over 50 races without a championship (the other driver is Junior Johnson).

Denny Hamlin driving the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at Kansas Speedway - Source: Getty

Hamlin has won 56 Cup races, the second-most among active drivers behind Kyle Busch. He added two wins this year after going back-to-back to victory lane from Martinsville Speedway and Darlington Raceway, respectively.

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"Karma caught up pretty quickly": Denny Hamlin on DNF at Texas

Last week, Denny Hamlin settled with a DNF after his #11 Toyota Camry caught fire before the end of stage one at Texas Motor Speedway. The veteran NASAR driver said he might've had karma after throwing a "horns down" gesture during the pre-race ceremony.

The gesture was an inverted version of the "Hook 'em Horns" popularized by the University of Texas Longhorns. Hamlin was heckled for the gesture in front of the Texan crowd, which he believes backfired after exiting the race early.

In an episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, the long-time Joe Gibbs Racing driver said:

"But you'd be surprised, actually, when I went from horns up to horns down, actually the crowd shifted there for a minute, like there was a few cheers that that weren't there before. So, I think that we're not necessarily right there in Texas territory as far as, you know, Austin, Texas. So, yeah, that didn't last long for me, eventually the karma caught up pretty quickly." [3:25 onwards]

The DNF in the Würth 400 at TMS was his first of the 2025 NASCAR season. He has amassed five top-5 (including two wins) and six top-10 finishes after 11 races.