Denny Hamlin recently shared his thoughts on Ryan Blaney’s unfortunate finish in this year’s Brickyard 400. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver argued that Blaney was treated unfairly by not being allowed to choose his restart row. Blaney ended up third in the race, while Kyle Larson from Hendrick Motorsports took advantage of the bottom row to snag his first win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The controversy began with an overtime restart after Kyle Busch spun out on lap 159. As the field took the green flag, Brad Keselowski of RFK Racing surged ahead but soon ran out of fuel, allowing Kyle Larson to slip into the bottom lane. This left Blaney, who was on track for a potential back-to-back win, frustrated and vocal on his radio. Reflecting on the incident in the latest episode of *Actions Detrimental*, Denny Hamlin remarked:
“Just let Blaney start on his own row.”
“Why does the row have to move up?” added co-host Jared Allen. “If Brad pulls off, Blaney is the only car in the front row. Why does the row have to move up?”
“That seems unfair,” replied Denny Hamlin.
NASCAR rules allow drivers to choose their restart rows before the green flag waves again, but the situation was complicated for Blaney. After Busch’s spin brought out the caution, Keselowski had to pit for fuel, leaving Blaney in the lead. However, NASCAR doesn’t have a specific rule for this scenario.
Hamlin justified Blaney’s frustration during what he called an “unhinged moment.” Blaney had a strong chance to win, but Larson’s move to the bottom lane allowed him to clear Blaney in turn 1.
“The 12 (Blaney) was in position to win, then he obviously lost it when the 5 (Larson) pulled up and cleared him in Turn 1,” Hamlin explained on his podcast. “It was an unhinged moment, and rightfully so.”
“I’m not sure what you do about it. The 6 (Keselowski) pulled off at the worst possible time. I don’t know how they thought they were going to make it anyway. If we didn’t have these fuel mileage races, we wouldn’t have this problem,” he added.
Hamlin feels that the need to conserve fuel, as Keselowski had to, affects the race’s momentum.
The drivers will now take a two-week break before NASCAR resumes on August 11 at Richmond Raceway, thanks to the Summer Olympics. Fans can catch the action on NBC Sports and the USA Network, or listen to live updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
