More than 20 cars got wrecked at Atlanta Motor Speedway last Saturday, including Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 King’s Hawaiian Toyota Camry. It all started with a tango between the Joe Gibbs Racing driver and John Hunter Nemechek.
Shortly after the restart on Lap 69, the drivers seemed to make contact, lose control, and create a multi-car pile-up. Denny Hamlin’s car was battered in the mayhem. Unable to continue racing, the Tampa, Florida native settled for his third DNF of the season.
Visibly frustrated, the driver had said during his post-race interview,
“I was on the bumper of the 42 (Nemechek); he was on the bumper of somebody else (Justin Haley) in front of him. We all just got to speedway pushing zigging and zagging, and we all crashed.”
However, after watching the replay a few times, Denny Hamlin realized that he might have been responsible for the wreck. Reflecting on the same in his Actions Detrimental Podcast, Hamlin said,
“Maybe it was my fault. I want to be fair and honest on this podcast. I thought at the very beginning, I was like, what the hell, 'somebody in front of me zigged and zagged', and I said this on my interview; it's like these guys were tail-wagging, and I was just pushing as I normally do. Spotter tells me they're locked on in front. That tells me I'm able to continue to push; everything is kind of good to go. And yeah, I was the end of the snake tail that lost control.” (2:22 onwards)
The crash eliminated Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Daniel Suárez, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Noah Gragson, Corey LaJoie, and Josh Berry from the race before the end of Stage 2. Hamlin’s teammate, Christopher Bell, was running over 50 laps down as a result of an earlier wreck.
“But it looked like I knocked the 42 kind of out of control,” Hamlin added.
There will be no million-dollar cash prize for Denny Hamlin as he cannot contend in the in-season challenge anymore. However, he is in a good points situation with three wins to his name already.
Denny Hamlin warns his drivers of NASCAR’s “result-based” business
NASCAR is an entertainment sport and thus generates a lion's share of its revenues from its fandom. The partners invest in the drivers and, needless to say, want them to win races. Denny Hamlin, who co-owns 23XI Racing, knows that. Winning is also crucial for a team to make the playoffs.
While speaking with Bob Pockrass during a recent interview, Denny Hamlin expressed his concerns about Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace’s position on the team. Hinting slightly at the matter, he said,
“I just know the resources that we’ve put in at 23XI, and all of our drivers should win. That is the expectation that I have of them. Obviously, it is a results-based business, and if you don’t over time, you consider your options.”
Tyler Reddick won three races in 2024, two the season before. Last year, he made the Championship 4 and was crowned the Regular Season Champion.
Although he hasn’t been able to replicate that kind of success this year, he does have eight more races to prove himself. Wallace has that, too, but his last win came back in 2022.
“Overall, I’ve seen enough progression, specifically, from the [Wallace] standpoint, that I can see where this can go. Putting himself in a playoff position year after year is good, but winning makes it better,” Hamlin further stated.
Next up for the drivers is The Grant Park 165 at The Chicago Street Circuit. Scheduled for this coming Sunday, July 6, the 75-lap race will be televised on TNT Sports, 2 pm ET onwards. Fans can listen to its radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio as well.
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