Denny Hamlin praises effectiveness of tire barriers at Chicago Street Course

Denny Hamlin had some fascinating thoughts regarding the effectiveness of the tire barriers during NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race on Sunday.

Multiple times throughout the day Cup Series drivers smacked into the tire barriers on the course, but little to no damage was done to the cars. It was surreal to see, and Hamlin could only laugh and smile when thinking about it on the latest Actions Detrimental podcast.

“Are you kidding me? There was no damage to the cars!” Hamlin exclaimed, speaking of the tire barrier’s effectiveness. “… It was crazy how much the tires compressing like that. … There was one part of the racetrack that I thought was marginal at best, and that was Turn 11.

“I kept saying over the radio, ‘Can we get them, when the cautions are going on, to just put a ton of sand or stay-dry up against the wall where it’s leaking out? To let it just soak in there. Or do some work on the other side of the barrier to keep it — whatever it is, re-route it somewhere.’ But they had their hands full, with so much going on. … It was unbelievable to see that there were no standing water on that racetrack, but that one spot.”

Alas, the greatest example of the tire barrier’s effectiveness was the fact that Kyle Busch went full speed into it, simply reversed his way out of it and was running at the top of the leaderboard afterwards. That’s pretty amazing.

Denny Hamlin was certainly impressed, as were drivers and fans alike. It’s something you don’t see every day on a NASCAR track, but then again there were plenty of things you could say that about from Chicago.

Denny Hamlin was in awe of Shane van Gisbergen’s talent during Grant Park 220

Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin couldn’t help but be in awe of Shane van Gisbergen after his victory in Sunday’s Grant Park 220 Chicago Street Race. 

van Gisbergen, the Supercars Championship driver who became the first driver to win his NASCAR Cup Series debut since Johnny Rutherford in the second qualifying race at Daytona in 1963, conquered the 12-turn, 2.2-mile street course to pick up the win. Hamlin heaped praise on van Gisbergen upon learning that the New Zealand native is used to racing right-hand-drive cars and had to adjust to being on the left side. 

“That, to me, blows my mind,” Hamlin said on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast Monday, via Connor O’Brien of V8 Sleuth. “I guess I could do it, but I probably wouldn’t be very efficient shifting with the other hand. We knew he was really good, but this is blowing my mind as we talk about it. You know what? Crown him. Greatest f—— athlete in the history of sports. 

“I mean, he went from one side of the car to the other. I did it when I went to Japan for Toyota and I ran out in a GT3 car. It took me forever to get comfortable driving from the other side of the car. Holy cow. Everywhere you turn it’s pretty amazing what he did.”