A big part of success in the Daytona 500 in the modern era of NASCAR is working with your team or working with the same manufacturer as yours. It’s a tried and tested and proven recipe that has always paid off. But not for everyone, not at least in the eyes of Denny Hamlin.
“As Toyotas, we don’t have alliance with anyone. We’re all independent, but we always fight numbers. We’re always at a disadvantage at numbers. With there only being 7 of us, it is so hard to get us in one place at one time because there is so few of us.”
“I said it after the caution came out, I’m like, ‘I’m such an idiot. I should’ve tried to make an attempt to pass Truex to at least block the inside which Fords then freight-trained us at the end of second stage because they had 6 Fords all lined up. If you block the track, they can’t go anywhere. So I think we flogged up there as well, not blocking the track, which is also, in my opinion, if I fast forward, where RCR f**k*d up.”
The 23XI Racing co-owner added that Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon and RCR shouldn’t have done what they did at the last lap restart. Hamlin further described that RCR should’ve done blocked the track, “Otherwise, you put all your eggs in one basket, which they did on that green-white-checkered,” he added.