Meanwhile, in NASCAR ...

 ... and, yes, before you start, it was still going on Sunday.

Yesterday was the last race of the season, in Phoenix.

Kyle Larson won the title for the second time, even though the last race he won was six months ago and he never led a lap Sunday.

Denny Hamlin was the guy who should have won, but, after 20 fruitless seasons, the racing gods kicked him in the tender bits again. And this time they clocked him a good one.

Hamlin, see, was leading the race with three laps to go, and no one was going to catch him. He was finally going to grab the brass ring, or whatever they call the Big Trophy in NASCAR. Unless something really stupid and cruel happened, he would never again be known as the best driver never to win a title.

And then ...

And then something really stupid and cruel happened.

With those aforementioned three laps to run, William Byron flatted a tire and smacked the wall, bringing out a yellow.

Hamlin led the field down pit lane, where he took new rubber all around.

Larson, on the other hand, elected to change just two tires, bringing him out in fifth while Hamlin came out in tenth.

The overtime green-white-checker that followed wasn't enough for Hamlin to make up the difference. He wound up sixth; Larson finished third and won a championship he both couldn't believe and -- let's be honest here -- totally lucked into.

"We were 40 seconds away from a championship," Hamlin said, when at last he could find his voice.

"This sport can drive you absolutely crazy," he said.

"Sometimes speed, talent, none of that matters," he said.

No, it doesn't. And now there will always be questions from those who love to ask questions after the fact.

The Blob's question: Why did Hamlin take four tires when he was already leading and so little time was left?

Why did he pit at all?

And, sure, OK, maybe thought he'd get beat on the green-white-checker restart by everyone who did take fresh rubber. But if his tires were that bad, why was he still  leading?  Wasn't track position more important at that point?

And while we're second-guessing stuff, who else sick to death of these manufactured green-white-checker finishes?

Mind you, this is coming from someone who is not and never has been a Denny Hamlin fan, particularly. But the green-white-checker thing has always annoyed me for some reason. It's always felt ... well, manufactured.

And, sure, without it, Hamlin wins the championship under yellow, which would have been seriously anticlimactic. But at least it would feel, I don't know, honest. If that makes any sense whatsoever.

If not ... well, here's to Kyle Larson, then. He is, after all, probably is the best driver in the sport right now. 

Just not yesterday.