Denny Hamlin claims NASCAR red-flagged the Brickyard 400 only because racers “were tight on gas”

Denny Hamlin shares his verdict on red-flag incident at Brickyard 400.

Denny Hamlin claims NASCAR red-flagged the Brickyard 400 only because racers “were tight on gas”

Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO)

The NASCAR Cup Series race Indianapolis Motor Speedway last season was a controversial one with the inconsistency in decision making by the sport being the highlight. Fans and drivers have been demanding consistency from the sport over caution and red-flag calls. Now Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin’s come forward with a claim that questions NASCAR.

While talking about the late red-flag calla t Indy, Denny Hamlin pointed out that NASCAR made the call because most of the cars were almost out of fuel at the moment. He reckons under normal circumstances it would have just been a regular caution, and the race would have continued as normal.

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You don’t think they made calls different at the end of this race than what they do under normal cautions?...I mean they threw a red flag to help people not run out (of fuel). Normally we would have just ran under caution there at the end of that race. But they knew people were tight on gas so they stopped the race.
Denny Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental podcast.

The points made by Denny Hamlin seems valid as just laps before Brad Keselowski was forced to pit, while leading because he was out of gas. He feels running with low fuel now seems doesn’t affect the leading drivers as they can just get away with by causing a wreck or something at the end.

Denny Hamlin insists he was innocent in Kyle Busch’s Brickyard 400 wreck

One of the significant incidents late in the race at Indy was Kyle Busch wrecking out after making contact with Denny Hamlin. He asserted in the same podcast that he didn’t have anything to do with the incident and gave enough space for the RCR driver to not wreck.

Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO)
Trust me, I did not want a caution, so I made sure I gave him plenty of room, getting in the corner, but I think he just carried a little too much speed in there, and got up the racetrack and got into the side of us and spun out.
Denny Hamlin said.

The incident ruined what would have been a top-5 finish for Kyle Busch and it cost Denny Hamlin as well. If his former teammate had been bit more patient both drivers could have gone back home with solid finish.

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