Denny Hamlin fires back at NASCAR broadcast critical of him in Watkins Glen wreck
Denny Hamlin didn’t appreciate the criticism he received from the NBC Sports booth during an incident with Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson at Watkins Glen.
Hamlin was three-wide with the other two veteran wheelmen, and he ended up spinning in Turn 2 due to the contact made with Keselowski. While the booth featuring Steve Letarte and Jeff Burton were wondering exactly what Hamlin was thinking in the situation, the No. 11 wheelman elaborated on why he believes he was far from wrong in the matter.
“I will have to, I’ve got to defend myself a little bit, with [Steve] Letarte and others, and [Jeff] Burton, because they said, you know, I stayed three-wide there,” Hamlin stated, via the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast. “If you go back and look in turn one, I was actually side-by-side with the No. 21. So, the No. 21 got clear of me, so I didn’t choose to go up there, because I was side-by-side with the No. 6 and the No. 5. I was up there because I was letting the No. 21 go into the corner, like you should — you don’t want to run side-by-side into the esses.
“Well, then the No. 6 and the No. 5 jam it in there on me late, and yeah, I’m in three-wide top, but I can’t hit the breaks enough to let both of them go. I mean, at this point, as a driver, when you’re three-wide, I know this isn’t an official rule, but the code is whoever’s ahead usually kind of has the right-of-way, and if you’re the last car of three-wide, let’s just say you’re in the middle or on the bottom, and you’re the one who’s got your nose the least ahead, you should be the first to back out. I know that that’s not going to happen, especially in this situation. It’s hard to pass, everybody’s fighting for everything, but I was the furthest ahead of all the cars. I didn’t even see them.
“So, I’m thinking, at the most, leave a little bit of room here, someone’s going to back out, and they didn’t, of course. … I just thought that, at that point, if you’re barely in there three-wide, it’s on you to lift. I was ahead of you at the time. So, it was unrealistic for, like TV said, for me to just back off. I was already backing off letting the No. 21 go, and then the No. 5 and No. 6 jammed in there. So I can’t just hit the brakes and let them all go in that moment.”
Alas, Hamlin’s point of view makes some sense, and it’s easy to see why he’d want to defend himself in the situation, and he was panned for the incident. Could he have braked and let his competitors move forward? Possibly, but the No. 11 wheelman’s idea regarding three-wide racing was sound, even if it didn’t end up working in his favor.
Moving onto Bristol this coming weekend, Denny Hamlin is six points below the cut-line, but The Last Great Coliseum is arguably his best track on the schedule. A trip to Tennessee could work out in his favor, even if he’ll be trying to avoid another three-wide incident on Sunday.