Denny Hamlin shared his thoughts on the chaotic restart of the first overtime race at NASCAR’s Brickyard 400. It propelled Kyle Larson onto the front row, stripping Ryan Blaney of a possible race win, despite him being in the lead. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver acknowledged that the restart ruined the Team Penske driver’s chances of a second straight victory.
The Brickyard 400 returned to the 2.5-mile oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Kyle Larson winning, Blaney taking a furious third and Denny Hamlin DNFing. But things were different when Kyle Busch’s spin on lap 159 sent the race into overtime. Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford was the control car, Blaney’s No. 12 Ford was second, and Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet was third. However, the RFK Racing driver’s Ford ran out of gas and Keselowski entered pit road from first, allowing Blaney to take the lead and forcing the Hendrick Motorsports driver to sit on the front row.
Contrary to Blaney’s belief, NASCAR left the race green, and Larson passed Blaney as the field entered turn 1. The defending Cup Series champion was not happy about this, uttering profanities over the team radio. Denny Hamlin then explained that NASCAR’s restart rules had cost Ryan Blaney a chance to win. “When the rule book says that if a car goes out of a lane or does anything else, you move forward, that’s a no-judgment decision,” the Action Detrimental co-host said via YouTube.
“Yes, that’s true. We argue that this was unfair to Blaney and that it cost Blaney the race,” Hamlin said.
Denny Hamlin was also among the leaders, but a first-overtime accident caused by a collision between John Hunter Nemechek and Daniel Hemric forced his No. 11 Toyota to retire for the third time this season.
Denny Hamlin opines on NASCAR allowing the drivers to rerack their rides if the restart doesn’t go green as slated
The Brickyard 400 was scheduled to be 160 laps around the 2.5-mile oval. However, an accident involving Kyle Busch on the final stage extended the fiasco by seven laps.
In addition, on lap 127, several high-octane drivers pitted to recharge their tanks. So, with the long run already putting a strain on their cars, a dozen drivers could have retired from the race if the restart had been extended any further. Denny Hamlin spoke along these lines, explaining how NASCAR could make different decisions in similar situations depending on how far the race was from the back of the pack. “They’re going to extend the caution and more cars are going to be eliminated. That’s not their (NASCAR) problem, but don’t you think they made a different decision at the end of this race than they would have done with a normal caution? I mean, I think they made a different decision at the end of this race [lap 162] so people wouldn’t be eliminated,” Hammin (31.57 seconds) said.
According to NASCAR rules, drivers line up and choose between the inside and outside lanes before the green flag caution. The cars then line up in the chosen lane and the restart begins. Things were different in the Crown Jewel race, when front-runner Keselowski was supposed to receive the green flag, but he pulled away at the last minute, automatically putting Blaney in the lead. However, NASCAR does not have clear guidelines on this. If the authorities had ordered the cars to be repositioned, the scenario would have been completely different and the drivers who had more gas in the tank and could run at full throttle would have been the winners, while many cars would have been sacrificed due to lack of fuel.
