After Denny Hamlin, Toyota Racing’s President Blasts NASCAR for Hendrick Motorsports Bias
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When NASCAR announced that next year, they’ll be taking a Next Gen stock car to Le Mans, it excited almost all corners of the community. However, at the same time, the same announcement led to a lot of criticism from names big and small simply because of the involvement of one team, Hendrick Motorsports.
The thing is, Hendrick will be the only team from NASCAR which is going to France next year, something that didn’t sit well with a lot of people, especially team owners and rival teams.
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One of which was David Wilson, the President of Toyota Racing.
According to journalist Kelly Crandall, “David Wilson was “disappointed” not to have a heads up on the NASCAR/Hendrick Le Mans announcement. Wilson says Toyota and Ford have expressed their “concerns and displeasure” about the event. While a fan of the idea, want it to be “fair” in terms of competitor getting track time.”
She further revealed that Wilson is confident with NASCAR allowing the Le Mans car to be visible through the testing and the main event to all the other teams and manufacturers, so as to not have a performance advantage ahead.
David Wilson was “disappointed” not to have a heads up on the NASCAR/Hendrick Le Mans announcement. Wilson says Toyota and Ford have expressed their “concerns and displeasure” about the event. While a fan of the idea, want it to be “fair” in terms of competitor getting track time
— Kelly Crandall (@KellyCrandall) May 17, 2022
Joe Gibbs Racing driver criticizes NASCAR for Hendrick Motorsports bias
In an interview ahead of the race at the Circuit of The Americas, Joe Gibbs Racing driver, and 23XI Racing co-owner, Denny Hamlin also expressed his feelings about NASCAR going ahead with HMS, and HMS only for Le Mans.
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“Finding out through a press conference is not OK,” Hamlin said. “We have too many people in place, NASCAR has too many executives for that to have slipped through the cracks. Not that it slipped through the cracks, but like, where’s the transparency of it?”
Hamlin described this behavior by NASCAR as “them doing their thing” and whatever they want to do. He added, “I just thought (from) a team owner standpoint, I’m concerned about how is it not an advantage?”
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“You cannot convince me right now that it won’t be.”
Edited by:
Ranvijay Singh