Sometimes, the sweetest revenge really does come in chocolate form. A little more than three months after Denny Hamlin told a frustrated Hendrick Motorsports fanbase to "have a Snickers" during a difficult NASCAR Cup Series regular season, the team took that suggestion quite literally right next to the 2026 Bill France Cup.
On Monday, a day after Kyle Larson clinched his third Cup Series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the organization shared a photo from Victory Lane featuring team execs Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon alongside Larson and crew chief Cliff Daniels. Each man was chomping down on a Snickers bar next to the newest trophy, accompanied by a short, sweet, and unmistakably pointed caption: "Feeling like ourselves again."
The reference traced back to a late-July episode of Hamlin’s "Actions Detrimental" podcast. Following a rough Brickyard 400 where the organization's four drivers had gone three consecutive races without a top-10 finish, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver remarked that the powerhouse squad needed the candy bar because they had not been themselves in a while. While playing off the familiar advertising campaign, Hamlin’s underlying point was that NASCAR’s winningest organization wasn’t producing the results its legacy demanded, noting that seeing William Byron in 12th was mind-boggling.
That dynamic changed rather dramatically shortly after. Larson snapped a 51-race winless drought at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in September, then added Chase victories at Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway before mathematically clinching the championship during Stage 1 of Sunday’s Homestead finale at Hamlin’s expense.
The title marked Larson’s third, his second consecutive, and Hendrick Motorsports’ record 16th overall. Hamlin, meanwhile, led 87 laps at Homestead but finished sixth, his own championship hopes having ended in the opening stage.
Three months after Hamlin’s suggestion, Hendrick had firmly rediscovered its championship form—and it apparently hadn’t forgotten the advice along the way.
