Denny Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart, revealed that the 43-year-old experienced the highest G-force ever recorded in Joe Gibbs Racing’s (JGR) NextGen history. This occurred after Austin Dillon collided with Hamlin’s #11 Toyota, clearing his path to his first win since the 2022 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
After losing the lead to Joey Logano just before the final lap, Dillon made an aggressive move, crashing into the Team Penske driver. He then targeted Hamlin’s car, which had become the automatic leader, forcing Hamlin into the outside wall. Despite the severe impact, Hamlin skillfully managed to control his car, securing a second-place finish.
Back in 2022, when the NextGen or Gen-7 car was introduced in NASCAR, then-JGR driver Kurt Busch suffered a violent crash into the outside wall during a qualifying session at Pocono Raceway. That crash recorded a G-force of 30g, which led to Busch’s retirement from NASCAR due to lingering concussion effects.
However, Hamlin’s crew chief shared that the #11 driver recorded an even higher G-force of 32g during the impact at Richmond, surpassing his former teammate’s record. Gabehart stated, “Do you wanna know what the highest recorded g spike in the history of Gen-7 was for JGR? It was Richmond and the 11 car. Sunday night, 32g spike in the wall off Turn 4 coming to the checkered flag. Highest ever recorded,” as reported by Sportsnaut.
Although Austin Dillon retained his race win, he was penalized, losing his playoff spot. NASCAR announced the penalty for Dillon and the #3 team on Wednesday, approximately 60 hours after the incident at the 0.750-mile oval. Dillon’s playoff eligibility was revoked, and both he and RCR were docked 25 driver’s and owner’s points.
According to Section 12.3.2.1.b of the NASCAR Rule Book, “Race finishes must be unencumbered by violation(s) of the NASCAR Rules or other action(s) detrimental to stock car auto racing or NASCAR as determined in the sole discretion of NASCAR.” While Gabehart agreed that NASCAR made the right call with the penalty, he urged for quicker decision-making in such cases. He said, “It’s easier for me to say this in that case, is they got it right with the exception of this. I want us to get to a world where the officials feel empowered to make those decisions 60 hours ahead of time, live,” Gabehart stated via SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
With Austin Dillon out of the playoffs, Chris Buescher of RFK Racing has moved above the cutline into 16th place. Meanwhile, with three wins under his belt, Denny Hamlin ranks second in the playoff standings, just behind Kyle Larson, who has four victories.
