Denny Hamlin reacts to Christopher Bell decision to pit twice at Las Vegas

Christopher Bell turned some heads this weekend at Las Vegas when he made a double pit stop, jumping into Chase Briscoe’s box at the last second to have Briscoe’s crew secure a loose wheel. It prevented him from getting a two-lap penalty.

Bell still had to move to the back of the pack as a penalty for using someone else’s box, but the damage could have been worse. Many hailed it as a savvy move.

Now the question becomes what NASCAR does from here. Will the organization ban that type of move in the future?

Denny Hamlin discussed the issue on his Actions Detrimental podcast, hitting on exactly that point. One interesting concern came up: Would allowing that type of move put single-car teams in a bind, not having the same availability to make a move.

Hamlin didn’t think so when discussing the Christopher Bell move. He explained.

“I would think being a single-car team is, listen, if you’re a single-car team you’re not doing your own pit crews anyway,” Hamlin said. “So more than likely you can stop in a box of whoever owns your pit crew. Does that make any sense?

“Maybe just at that point you have an agreement with whoever owns your pit crew, that you can stop in any of their stalls to get it done. That way it wouldn’t be a detriment to being a single-car team, two-car team, whatever it might be.”

As for the move itself, Hamlin didn’t take issue with Christopher Bell’s decision. It wasn’t a huge change in fortunes.

“It’s not like there was no penalty, right?” Hamlin said. “He still had to go to the back. So I agree that I wouldn’t mess with it. Let’s not create another rule in the middle of the season.”

That’s something Hamlin said he’s seen all too much of lately from NASCAR. Just because Christopher Bell uncovered a loophole of sorts doesn’t necessarily mean a change must be made.

After all, if NASCAR is working in the interest of driver safety, allowing a driver to get an obviously loose wheel tightened before returning to the track, where it could become a hazard, is the right move. Christopher Bell only highlighted that.

So change rules? Not necessary, said Hamlin.

“We have to be the only sport that changes this many rules in the middle of the season,” Hamlin said. “I just feel like we update our rules every week, change the language, make it more vague, like they’re starting to add ‘at NASCAR’s discretion’ to everything. At the end of every rule, ‘at NASCAR’s discretion.'”