Dale Jarrett Blasts Denny Hamlin and Crew Over Disastrous Las Vegas Pit-Call

Starting the Las Vegas race on pole, Denny Hamlin was expected to secure a victory and reduce the gap to championship leader Kyle Larson. Unfortunately, one bad strategy call from Chris Gayle ruined his chances and even changed the dynamic of the whole race, which irked many in the garage including veteran broadcaster Dale Jarrett.

The No:11 pitted for two new tires, while leading in the final laps of stage one, when his main rival Learon was lap down. He came out of the pits to join the pack at the back, with Larson being allowed to join the leading pack. Hamlin tried to get the lead back and his run ended with spin while at P4 and Jarrett is unhappy with Gayle for putting the veteran racer on the tough spot.

You know, Denny’s spinning out here today. But I don’t think he – I don’t know that he’d have been in that position. You know, we praise these crew chiefs, and they do – they make great calls. They have to make them, and quickly.

Dale Jarrett said post-race.

The veteran declared that Denny Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gayle made the wrong call and deserves all the criticism coming at him, as in the words of Dale Jarrett crew chief who get praised for good calls also deserves criticism. He believes Kyle Larson wouldn’t have finished P2 at the end of the race if not for the blunder.  

I do not think, and I stood by it when it was happening, that Chris Gayle made the right call today. So, if we’re going to give them praise, we have to question them sometimes because it changed the whole complexion of this race. I do not believe that Kyle Larson would have ended up finishing second if they kept him a lap down.

Dale Jarrett added, as reported via On3.com.

Later in the same conversation, Jarrett addressed the point that the No:11 team was right to continue employing their pre-race plans. He found it absurd that the team didn’t take the opportunity to punish their biggest championship rival the cleanest way possible.

I know that Steve said that you got the way that you want to run the race, and you have to kind of stick with that, but I think you have to be willing to make a U-turn and say, we need to take – we’ve got this man a lap down because he’s not running well.  Let’s keep him there as long as we possibly can.

Dale Jarrett asserted.

Denny Hamlin’s crew chief regret the decision on hindsight

Talking about the pit-call post-race, Chris Gayle admitted that it was the wrong decision from his side to make that sudden pit-stop. He slammed claims that they did it intentionally to let Larson pass and added that it was just a mistake from his side.

So, it was just a matter of how many guys were going to stay out, is what it was. It wasn’t an intentional ploy to let Larson get his lap back or anything like that, because I think guys did stay out in front. It didn’t matter whether we did or not; there were guys in front of us that stayed out. So, yeah, it honestly wasn’t a great call on my part, but that’s in hindsight, after knowing that.

Denny Hamlin said.

The comments from the veteran crew chief shows how on the hindsight they would have done what Dale Jarrett suggested. It would be interesting to see how the drama is going to change the championship picture in the coming days.

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