You must have seen how unpredictable the sport of NASCAR can be at times. Well, that is exactly what the fans got to witness this past Sunday at Bristol. We saw cars, that are much more accustomed to the asphalt, spin left and right, further ruining the night for drivers, like Kyle Busch, who were expected to do a lot better. Another driver who was quite unfortunate this past weekend was Ryan Blaney.

Talking on his podcast, Denny Hamlin showed empathy for Blaney. But he surprisingly praised Tony Stewart’s driver, Chase Briscoe, who was arguably the reason for the Team Penske driver’s spin.

The Stewart Haas Racing driver is very familiar with the dirt tracks as he grew up racing on dirt tracks across his Indiana home state. While he was chasing a win for himself, he ended up hitting the #12 right after the restart.

With eight laps remaining, he was driving behind Ryan Blaney, who was in the third spot. On Turn 1, Briscoe bumped into Blaney’s car, spinning him out. While the spin left Blaney dropping back, Briscoe managed to earn a fifth spot in the race. 

Denny Hamlin shares a few words of encouragement for Tony Stewart’s driver

Though Briscoe had a brace on his broken finger, in that race, he managed to give his best efforts. He had injured the middle finger of his left hand while racing in a dirt late model car before the NASCAR dirt race weekend in Bristol. In light of this, Denny Hamlin, in the recent episode of his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, had a lot of good things to say about him.

Hamlin understands how difficult it might have been for Briscoe, as he is also a left-hand guy. He said, “But Blaney got the short end of that. Briscoe is running on a broken finger. I think it’s on his left hand. I’m a left-hand pull guy, so when I’m driving, I’m pulling down on my left hand more than I’m steering with my right.”

“So I’m sure that’s not totally comfortable, but he still ran extremely good. That’s really all I got from that one.”

While Hamlin also acknowledged that Blaney had to bear the brunt, it is undeniable that Briscoe drove brilliantly in Bristol despite being hindered by a broken finger.

And as per recent updates, Briscoe will be going in to see a doctor for a major procedure after the Martinsville race.

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Denny Hamlin’s penalty fiasco brought a bigger issue to light

It all started with Denny Hamlin’s Phoenix incident and his own words got him in trouble. He openly admitted to wrecking Ross Chastain on his ‘Actions Detrimental’ podcast. This resulted in a hefty penalty for him from NASCAR. And to add to his misery, even his appeal did not come out in his favor. This led Hamlin to believe that it could lead to more severe consequences for the culture of NASCAR.

Diving deeper into the topic, he opened up about the “most detrimental thing” that he feels is killing NASCAR right now.

In light of all the recent developments in the sport, he said, “You can’t be yourselves.’ I heard Mike Davis talking about this on Dirty Mo Live shortly after, but it’s so true.”

He also shared that William Byron has decided to not appear on any podcasts from now on considering how saying some things can get drivers in trouble. He added, “Now, you don’t even have to say, ‘I crashed Ross.’ You can just vaguely say it, and they can interpret it however they want,” Hamlin described. “That’s what scary right?”

Watch This Story: “Ross [Chastain] Manipulated It” – NASCAR Insider Put the Sport Under Heavy Scrutiny, Proclaiming They “Screwed up Denny’s Penalty”

There is a lot going on in the NASCAR world currently, and voicing one’s opinions is very crucial. As the downside of it, there may be some consequences that drivers will have to bear. Do you think the governing body did the right thing, in the case of Hamlin Hamlin?