Did NASCAR intentionally screw over Denny Hamlin?

"Settled out of court", while completely accurate, is probably the most generous possible way to say that Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan took it to NASCAR and left the sanctioning body, and specifically all of its top executives, with their tails between their legs after the 15-month antitrust lawsuit finally came to a close about a week ago now.

Sure, there was no formal "winner", but the teams ultimately got what they wanted, and possibly even more. While the entire settlement was not made public, both 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, the other team involved in the lawsuit that fans seemingly forget about, received an undisclosed (but reportedly sizable) amount of money from NASCAR, and charters are now officially evergreen.

Simply put, NASCAR could not defeat the GOAT, and his involvement in this trial – a crazy turn of events considering he only got into NASCAR to begin with because of "fake news" – has forced NASCAR to fundamentally change how they operate in a way that nobody else could have made possible.

We're not going to pretend to be lawyers here. But the writing seemed to be on the wall the entire time; look no further than July's ridiculous rule change to save face amid one of the very few rulings that actually went NASCAR's way (and has since effectively been undone, to the sheer delight of everybody except the suits up top).

When Hamlin said in July, the week after NASCAR officially removed charter status from both his and Jordan's three-car Toyota team and Bob Jenkins' three-car Ford team, that "all will be exposed" in the December trial, he wasn't bluffing.

With the lawsuit really beginning to heat up, he knew exactly what he was talking about.

And boy, did he and the teams deliver, with all kinds of nonsense exposed about those in charge of running NASCAR (and, quite frankly, those most to blame for its abundance of recent shortcomings).

Sure enough, the teams left court feeling pretty good about themselves and the future of their sport, which is exactly why they went down this path to begin with.

Did NASCAR try to screw over Denny Hamlin at Phoenix?

But let's put on our tinfoil hats for a second and step back a month and a half in time to Phoenix Raceway, where Hamlin was seemingly coasting to his first career Cup Series championship with under three laps remaining.

Heading into the weekend, some fans joked that there was no way on earth, as long as they could help it, that the France family would ever let Hamlin host the Bill France Cup, just weeks before his side went scorched earth on NASCAR in court to deliver on the promise he made in July.

Hamlin winning the championship, then winning in court? Too good to be true, right?

Even for a driver like Hamlin, who has become one of the sport's all-time villains? Indeed.

So when the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of William Byron suffered a late tire puncture and the caution flag flew, there were immediately questions about whether or not NASCAR was actually doing whatever they could do to keep Hamlin, one of the all-time greats no matter how you slice it, as the sport's all-time winningest non-champion.

Hamlin pit for four tires. Kyle Larson, Byron's teammate, pit for two. Larson came out five spots ahead of Hamlin, who had led 208 laps. After the two-lap green-white-checkered overtime, Larson finished third, three spots ahead of Hamlin in sixth. Despite leading zero laps, Larson was crowned champion.

How convenient.

Hamlin has since gone on record and said he doesn't disagree with NASCAR's decision to throw the caution flag; Byron even apologized to him, even though there was nothing he could have done differently to avoid it.

And let's be real; Hamlin could have stayed out and won the race and championship. He could have also taken two tires and won the race and championship.

It's not like it was NASCAR's fault he lost, plain and simple.

But it was NASCAR's decision that turned a surefire championship into a question mark, one Hamlin and the No. 11 team weren't able to answer in the moment that mattered most.

So no, it wasn't rigged, per se. But considering the fact that there were other tire issues throughout the entire rest of the weekend, including in the Cup Series race, that did not generate caution flags despite arguably producing bigger hazards, you can't blame anybody for being upset about the inconsistency – and yes, questioning the oh-so-convenient nature of the yellow.

Entertainment cautions have been a problem in NASCAR for years. Look no further than the 2016 championship, when Carl Edwards was screwed out of a title and ultimately retired because of it. Even in the stage racing era, with gimmicky planned cautions in every race, questionable and conveniently (or inconveniently) timed yellows have altered race outcomes.

Would NASCAR have thrown the caution had it been someone other than Hamlin leading? Keeping with the theme of entertainment, probably, even if that doesn't support the conspiracy theory.

And let's not pretend that all previous tire issues were ignored; only some of them. And Byron did make slight contact with the wall. So you can understand it, at least somewhat, why the decision was made.

But the fact is, it wasn't someone other than Hamlin leading; it was Hamlin, the guy suing NASCAR, and the guy who stood the most to lose from that yellow flag coming out.

And it came out, almost certainly giving fans something else to debate about for years – even longer, if Hamlin never manages to win that elusive title. He is under contract with Joe Gibbs Racing through 2027.

The best part about the lawsuit, though?

NASCAR couldn't throw a yellow flag with two to go when it became clear and obvious that things were not going their way in court.

Not on MJ's watch, at least.

Yet for the fans, it was still pretty darn entertaining.