Kyle Busch was extremely vocal about his dissatisfaction with NASCAR regulations after he wasn’t allowed to rejoin the Daytona 500 following a crash that enveloped his car, among several others. Parked by NASCAR in the closing stages of the race, Busch even blasted the sport’s authorities on social media for “not knowing their own rules.”
Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin has also joined the conversation, but not in favor of the Richard Childress Racing driver.
On the latest episode of “Actions Detrimental,” Hamlin revealed he spoke with NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer following Busch’s comments. And the conversation deemed the RCR driver to be in the wrong.
Denny Hamlin Sides Against Kyle Busch in Daytona 500 Controversy
Wanting to be educated on the entire situation, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver ended up calling Sawyer ahead of his latest podcast. Appreciating the senior VP for taking his call, Hamlin revealed he disagreed with Busch’s claims. Per the telephone conversation between the two, the RCR driver’s claim of getting three attempts to make speed was wrong.
Hamlin further said Busch’s problems started “because his lift jack system did not work. And it is up for debate why.” And because the system did not work, Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet could not get plugged into.
If a car is able to drive to the pit road, the driver then has three laps to get back to minimum speed. But because Busch needed a tow back to the garage, it played against his chances.
Additionally, when a car starts from the garage, the team has to get it right in one go, irrespective of how much time it takes them. Once a car leaves, there’s no chance to visit the garage again and make the necessary adjustments. Thus, Hamlin ended up nullifying Busch’s claims.
In a crash started by Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet hit the inside of the track but appeared to have avoided the worst. However, the procedures mentioned above held him back from making any progress.
Unhappy with the forced parking, Busch blamed NASCAR for not knowing their own rules. His team had looked at the car and deemed it fit enough to continue racing with four new tires.
Once they went back out, their plan was to figure out how to proceed from there on. The race officials asked RCR to get the car back to the garage to work on it again, but that would also have resulted in the No. 8 Chevy being parked.
