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Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin recently assessed the state of pack racing at Talladega Superspeedway, claiming that the famed oval should not boast the title of the fastest track in the world.
The 2.66-mile oval in Lincoln, Alabama is home to historic NASCAR speed records. However, recent Cup Series races at the track have seen drivers deliberately slowing down to save fuel and reduce their pitstop times. Drivers ramp up the speed in the final laps of the race, intensifying the battle for the win.
In the latest episode of Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin, worth $65 million (via Celebrity Net Worth), explained why drivers strategically slow down in the pack. Hamlin stated that no driver desires to be in the lead due to the excessive drag, but once they get there, they slow down to save fuel. As the leader slows down, the rest of the pack follows suit.
"You never really want to be lead car for sure, the lead cars get out there and they're like 'I wanna save fuel!' and the person behind them saying 'I wanna save fuel too.' And the person beside starts going forward and they start passing and they're like 'Wait a minute am I going too fast, I need to slow down,'" the #11 JGR driver said. [17:20]
With drivers crawling around the 2.66-mile oval, sometimes clocking lap times six to seven seconds slower than their fastest, Hamlin suggests Talladega Superspeedway must not be referred to as the fastest oval track in the world.
"It's just a battle over who can just slow down the most, it's so counterintuitive. They need to stop calling Talladega the fastest track in the world, it's not. We run faster probably half the race tracks than what we ran today. We were creeping around the race track just fighting to run slower than the guy beside," he concluded.
Denny Hamlin reacts to "poetic" change in fortunes at Talladega
After pitting midway through the final stage, the Toyota drivers shook up the strategy for the rest of the teams. Tyler Reddick led the Toyota drivers, who were bound to merge ahead of the main pack, giving them a shot at victory.
A few laps later, their strategy gamble unraveled as Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace got unsettled and crashed out of the race, collecting Denny Hamlin in the process. Giving his initial reaction to the crash, the 23XI Racing co-owner described the sudden change of fortunes as "poetic."
"I just saw the No. 43 get turned and then I got turned. I’m really not sure which one happened first. Obviously there was a bad push towards the front and wiped us all out. It’s just poetic," Hamlin told Fox Sports' Regan Smith.
Despite crashing out, Denny Hamlin did have something to cheer about as the 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick won the GEICO 500 with a last-lap pass.
