Entering the closing stages of the Daytona 500, the 67th edition of the race turned into pure chaos, with the leaders ending up in a crash and subsequently unable to see the chequered flag. Denny Hamlin, a past winner of the race himself, was sitting pretty in the middle of the pack as he saw drivers who were vying for the race win end their opportunity in disaster.
Unhappy with how the veterans handled the situation, Hamlin took to the latest episode of “Actions Detrimental” to give his two cents on the Daytona wreck. Per the No. 11 driver, the nature of the race has now become a lot less sensible.
Denny Hamlin Took No Prisoners While Addressing the Daytona 500 Wreck
Recalling his favorite quote from the 2011 film “Moneyball,” Hamlin said one should not interrupt their enemies when they make a mistake. However, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver claimed that in the current scenario, the drivers need to start interrupting because they end up paying for someone else’s mistake.
Commenting further, Hamlin said how people generally attribute such incidents to the nature of superspeedway racing. But the 44-year-old believes it is something else. “I’m tired of getting taken out by stupid moves that we chalk up to, ‘That’s just superspeedway racing,'” Hamlin said. “It’s not, it’s dumb*** racing.”
Shining a light on the incident that unfolded between Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. from a driver’s perspective, Hamlin said he had already seen a crash coming.
Five laps before the crash, the front runners started weaving from the top lane to the bottom. Such low-percentage moves don’t make much sense to Hamlin, and he doesn’t feel they turn out to be very successful.
The No. 11 driver then proceeded to claim the crash was 65% Stenhouse Jr.’s fault while the rest of the blame belonged to Logan. Both drivers got a bit too hot-headed when it mattered most, and it ended up costing them, as well as those with a cooler head.
Hamlin is among the handful of veteran drivers who have denounced the risky behavior that led to the crash, hoping for a brighter (and safer) future for the Daytona 500.
