Denny Hamlin reacts to Stage 1 pit road decision that lost track position at Las Vegas

Denny Hamlin knows the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race in Las Vegas changed for him after a pit stop during Stage 1. On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin reacted to the pit stop that caused him to drop in the field.

“Tires actually mean more probably at Vegas as what they do at other racetracks,” Hamlin said. “I couldn’t hang on. I was dropping like a rock, I was getting run into from every angle possible. It was not going well, and we were lucky to stay on the lead lap there.”

Hamlin mentioned that his team changed two tires during the pit stop and explained the difference between changing four and two. “While wear might be small, it is a surface temperature thing,” Hamlin explained. “You’re naturally not going to have as much grip as others because of the temps. The tires want to be colder, so when you put on sticker tires and you put four of them on, they’re going to have more grip naturally even though the wear might not be that significant. I just got eaten up really quickly.”

‘Not a clean day’ for Denny Hamlin at Las Vegas

Hamlin had the lead for four laps before dropping. He did hang on to finish eighth but is below the playoff cut line, meaning he has much work to do if he wants to reach the Championship 4.

“Just not a clean day. That certainly kind of sums it up,” Hamin said after the race. “You’ll have that and we’ll just do the best we can to get the best finish. I thought Chris [Gabehart] did a great job trying to get some sort of finish. Once we lost the track position early, he was doing everything he could to try to get it back. …It’s just part of it.”

Hamlin and the rest of the of the NASCAR drivers will compete at Homestead on Sunday. During his Cup Series career, Hamlin as won at the track three times with the last victory coming in 2020. Last year was not a good showing for Hamlin as he got into an accident and finished 30th.