Denny Hamlin vents frustration over the “SHAM” finishing order at Talladega

Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin was disappointed due to the way race officials approached the race restart after the big one at Talladega.

Denny Hamlin vents frustration over the “SHAM” finishing order at Talladega

Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick (Via IMAGO)

The NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega last Sunday was arguably the most chaotic event in the history of the sport. It featured a historic 28 car wreck towards the end of the race and the way race officials handled the drama was controversial. NASCAR made some questionable calls including not implementing the DVP clock correctly, putting the legitimacy of the finish in question.

Three times Daytona 500 champion Denny Hamlin has chimed in on the drama and has given his verdict on it. He pointed out that on an ideal situation if the DVP clocks were legitimately used, most of the cars that incurred significant damages should have gone multiple laps down, but it didn’t happen.

They find ways to repair these cars without going a lap down, but sometimes you have to go multiple laps down. But you use all of your DVP clock to get the car fixed because you know you’ve got one shot to make minimum speed. Well, you’ve got cars that are limping around the racetrack that know they can’t fix it. They’re just trying to make all the laps they can.

Denny Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental.

He backed his argument by siting Chase Elliott as an example, who should have gone multiple laps down after the crash but didn’t. All these were allowed because NASCAR removed the red flag before the track was cleared and with cars stuck on turn two, the crew was able to work on the damaged cars without ant consequences making the race result a sham.

And you’ve got others, Chase Elliott brought it up, that didn’t even make DVP clock that should have been multiple laps down, but they weren’t. And then you’ve got others that worked on their cars to avoid going a lap down because we’re sitting in Turn 2 not moving under a yellow condition. This order, this finishing order at Talladega was a sham at best.

Denny Hamlin added.

Denny Hamlin doesn’t buy NASCAR’s justification of the call

NASCAR Senior VP Elton Sawyer told the media that the red flag was changed early to make sure the clearing process would be done faster. Hamlin called BS on this argument pointing out that it only slows down the process. He asserted that the red flag should have lasted as long as the track is cleared.

Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO)

That doesn’t make cleanup go any faster, that makes it go slower. Because while we’re going around the wreck, you’re keeping tow vehicles, rollbacks, and all that from moving because they have to navigate us. Stay red as long as you have to, to get it cleaned up. That way when we go yellow, we can go around once, get the one to go, let’s go racing. That’s the proper way to do this.

Denny Hamlin said.

The points made by Denny Hamlin on the red-flag saga is absolutely spot on. NASCAR shouldn’t have changed the call and give the drivers an un fare advantage, which none of the drivers have got in any other races this season. It will be interesting to see how NASCAR will approach similar situation in the future amidst the backlash.