Denny Hamlin reacts to historic wreck at Talladega, assesses blame
Denny Hamlin had some interesting thoughts about the huge wreck at Talladega on Sunday. On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin explained why the wreck happened and who is to blame for it.
“It just felt like to me as someone that does this that the 21 (Harrison Burton) and 22 (Joey Logano) just kept pushing the 6 (Brad Keselowski) and didn’t get off of him,” Hamlin said. “Obviously, the 6 is coming to the 2 (Austin Cindric) car with such a run. I think Brad tweeted it, ‘Listen, I’m trying to lift.’ He didn’t lift a lot by the way, but he did lift some and he did hit some break to try to slow down the run. He just got shoved into a wreck, and unfortunately for those guys that kind of probably initially caused it which is the 22 and the 21, they got bit by the actions they started.
“We see this a lot certainly with this Next Gen car. The runs get big and this thing took out everyone. It took out so many cars. They were coming with a run, and it’s not like Cindric put a bad block on or anything like that, he just got out there and that inside line started stacking up.”
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Denny Hamlin doesn’t think Todd Gilliland played a role in the wreck
Hamlin was then asked if Todd Gilliland played a role in the Talladega wreck. “I didn’t think that Todd Gilliland had a huge role in this,” Hamlin stated. “I saw the people were mentioning that we went by him. …Maybe it had an effect with the air that allowed them to bunch up the way they did. This is on the spotters of the 21 and 22 to say that while you’re shoving the 6, yes you got two car links ahead, you have to plan that gap is going to close really quickly. You got to get off the guy, and they didn’t and it caused a wreck.”
The wreck didn’t have too much of a negative impact on Hamlin since he earned a P10 finish at Talladega. He also is in a good position to advance in the playoffs as he’s in fourth place in the playoff standings. Hamlin is seeking his first Cup Series title as a driver. As a co-owner of 23XI Racing, Hamlin won this year’s regular season title as Tyler Reddick came in first in the standings.