Denny Hamlin Declares the 23-Car Wreck Was the “Best Thing That Happened” at Atlanta

Joe Gibbs Racing veteran driver Denny Hamlin has shared his thoughts on how his mega wreck changed the race as a whole at Atlanta.

Denny Hamlin Declares the 23-Car Wreck Was the “Best Thing That Happened” at Atlanta

Denny Hamlin (Via newsminimalist.com)

The NASCAR Cup Series race last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway witnessed two big ones, both of which were caused by Joe Gibbs Racing drivers. Youngster Christopher Bell instigated the first incident while the second wreck, that collected 23 cars, ruining the race for many front-runners, was the product of Denny Hamlin’s mistake.

The No:11 Toyota Camry of Denny Hamlin, lost control of his car while drafting in pack and spun out collecting multiple drivers, causing DNFs. Many cars involved in the incident towed back to the garage due to damages and the whole space was opened for the rest of the field.  In this week’s episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin shared his thoughts on the incident.

The veteran boldly claimed that the wreck was the best thing that happened to everyone in the race as he believes his mistakes created enough space in the track for other drivers to make moves and have a proper race. As almost one-third of the cars were moved away from the track, ended the situation of two-by-two log-jammed.

That wreck was the best thing that happened to that race. There’s no question about it whatsoever. What it did was it created space between the cars. We’re not log-jammed two by two by two by two by two. There was space.

Denny Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental.

The veteran highlighted that having 15 cars on the track after the wreck made it much easier for the driver and that space played a significant role in Chase Elliott taking advantage of Alex Bowman’s push on the final lap to overtake Brad Keselowski for the win, alongside many other passes at the end. That’s how Superspeedway races have been and how it should be.  

There was only 15 cars, maybe that were not damaged. If you look, all the passing that was done at the end of that race, it was created through space of the cars, and that’s what we used to have on Superspeedways is space to work.

Denny Hamlin added.

Denny Hamlin takes the blame for the incident

In the same podcast, Denny Hamlin explains what he feels after watching the reply of the incident. After a fair assessment of the situation, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran asserted that he was wrong to give the verdict that it was drivers ‘zig zagging’ that caused the incident.

Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick
Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick (Via IMAGO)

Listen, I watched the replay a few times. Maybe it was my fault? Because I want to be fair and honest on this podcast, and I’m looking at it, and I thought at the very beginning I was like, ‘What the hell, somebody in front of me zigged and zagged,’ and I said this on my interview, ‘These guys were tail wagging and I was just pushing as I normally do.’

Denny Hamlin said.

He pointed out that how he, as well as many, continued to push at the moment, despite being in the tail end of the draft and eventually made unwanted contact with the No:42 resulting in the wreck. Hamlin finally admitted that the wreck was his making.

Spotter tells me they’re locked on in front, that tells me I’m able to continue to push, everything is kind of good to go, and yeah. I was the end of the snake tail that lost control. But it looked like I knocked the 42 kind of out of control. Maybe it’s on me.

Denny Hamlin added.

The comments from the future Hall of Famer shows how superspeedway racing has changed since the start of the Next-Gen era. It would be interesting to see how NASCAR is going to look into these comments regarding the lack of space affecting superspeedway racing in the current era.

Also Read: William Byron Declares Cup Garage Look as Bad as ‘Truck Series’ Over Multi-Car Wreck at Atlanta