Denny Hamlin Puts NASCAR Fans On the Spot With Burning Questions After Shambolic Scenes at Daytona

Sunday’s Daytona International Speedway race was a complete wreck! Stopping after the 139th lap, the 160-lap race was interrupted by a multi-car crash. The three-time Daytona 500 champion, Denny Hamlin, was one of the leaders in the race. However, Hamlin lost traction and his car took several hard hits, sending the ones behind him off-track.

The Coke Zero Sugar 400 race was originally scheduled for Saturday night. But as rain approached Daytona Beach, the race was bumped to Sunday morning. However, things didn’t look good on Sunday either.

A huge dark cloud appeared above the track, and NASCAR did not throw caution for rain.

As soon as the drivers entered the third stage, rain poured fast with no warning. And race leaders Daniel Suarez, Denny Hamlin, and Justin Haley became the first few drivers to touch the wet surface. All three of them lost traction, and their cars spun. This left the other cars behind them clustering together, and a multi-car crash wrecked the race.

Upset by the incident, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin took to Twitter to express his thoughts. Hamlin criticized NASCAR for not being able to warn drivers in time and asked his fans if “we should be more proactive instead of re-active?”

Hamlin suffered physical injuries due to the crash. And he feels that such incidents can be avoided. He further explained that waiting until the track gets wet isn’t a good approach. Instead, NASCAR should make sure that as soon as one sees rain, the race should stop. 

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Besides Denny Hamlin, other drivers also suffered injuries due to the crash. In a post-race interview, the NASCAR Cup Series drivers also criticized NASCAR for not raising caution earlier. 

Denny Hamlin, along with other drivers, criticizes NASCAR for not calling caution

Being one of the leaders in the race, Denny Hamlin made contact with the wet surface early on. In a post-race interview with Dustin Long, Hamlin said that “better officiating” on NASCAR’s part could have avoided the incident.

Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley was also amidst the wreck. He pointed out that NASCAR had enough time to call caution. “They had about a whole lap to call a caution and tore up a lot of race cars. That was pretty unacceptable.”

Daniel Suarez also said that NASCAR should have reacted sooner. As a part of the wreck, Suarez said, “We knew the rain was coming. It was raining next door. It’s just a matter of time. Why wait for it?” 

Continuing about the caution not being up on time, Suarez said, “They have a lot of technology up there (in the officials’ booth) to know it is very, very close. If it’s very, very close, I don’t think they should put us in those positions.”

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Apart from them, Chris Buescher, Todd Gilliland, and Tyler Reddick, amongst many others, were also unhappy with the circumstances. A better reaction to situations like these and a proactive approach was the main concern that most drivers had with NASCAR’s method.