A Frustrated Denny Hamlin Sighs Out the Real Reasons Behind His “Marred” Day at the Sonoma Raceway

Things were looking bright for Denny Hamlin when he started out from the pole position his first out of 16 career races in the wine city. Although he led the first 32 laps of the race and was perhaps hoping for another win in the season. However, the scenario changed after the first stage, as his teammate Martin Truex Jr went on to take his second victory of the season.

Nevertheless, the Toyota/ Save Mart 350 turned out to be a clean and quick race with only two cautions through the 110 laps. This benefitted most of the drivers and especially Martin Truex Jr and Chase Elliott, which catapulted them to secure the top 5 positions in the race. 

But not all the drivers were ecstatic about the fact, especially Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin. He seemed to be disappointed with NASCAR’s new rule regarding the issuance of yellow flags for races at the road courses. He heaved his disappointments in the latest episode of Action Detrimental.

Denny Hamlin turns caustic with the adoption of the new rule by NASCAR on road courses

At the beginning of the 2023 season, NASCAR’s governing body introduced new rules, where they would do away with caution flags at the end of each stage race on the street or road courses. This rule is certainly nothing less than a curve ball on the strategies of the team and was evident in Sunday’s race.

This led to Hamlin expressing the fact, “We lost track position when that caution came out. I don’t know how I feel about that, NASCAR was probably dying for a caution during that time. When we were leaving Turn 11, I saw the other third place start to come off on 10. It was a waste for sure.”

The first caution that was issued in the race, was due to an uncontrolled tire on the pit road. Regarding this, the #11 Toyota driver said, “That pit road is different than other pit roads, there is no direct entryway for a car to end up on the pit lane from the race track. So if you see a bunch of racetracks where you can spin off at Turn 4 and then end up on pit lane, here it is completely blocked off.”

He added, “No cars will be coming on the pit lane. It’s right in the middle of the pit lane, it’s right in the middle of the pit sequence, which jumbles up the whole field. And certainly didn’t do us any favors to us. But you gotta think that if the NASCAR officials enter the pit lane they could perhaps say nobody’s coming, somebody run out there and takes 5 seconds to get the tire.” 

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The JGR driver spills the beans as to why he lost the track position, even after from the pole

The first caution surely did not settle well with the 3x Daytona winner, as his position in the race was compromised, and fell back in the pack. He added, “You probably got to be consistent for a caution, which they did, and took our track position obviously marred us back at tenth for the rest of the day.”

Nonetheless, there were teams who had pitted earlier capitalized on the situation and helped in gaining track position during the race. However, with the exception of Martin Truex Jr and Chase Elliott who had been in the front through the course of the race. Denny Hamlin affirmed the fact that the caution proved to be detrimental to him, although he was up in the front cruising in the race.

But the caution upset his plans and made Hamlin sour, as he had to start fourth during the restart and was “jammed up by  f***ing tires in front of” him. Hamlin asserted, “I was on his a*s, 13-6 ahead of third and this is just the way it ended up.”

It was clearly a disappointing day for the JGR driver. He had to retire from the race with less than 20 laps to go after he hit both the inside and the outside walls which resulted in a broken toe link. The new rule adopted by NASCAR is yet to prove its potential as there are three more road courses and one inaugural street course left on the calendar of NASCAR before they move into the Playoffs.

Read More: Denny Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing Crew Chief Joins Legion of Fans in Slamming NASCAR’s Safety Hazard at Sonoma