Denny Hamlin reacts to NASCAR decision not to throw caution flag on last lap of Daytona 500

Denny Hamlin had some thoughts on NASCAR’s decision not to throw the caution flag amid multiple wrecks on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

As the field crossed the start-finish-line to take the white flag, Riley Herbst spun, but the race stayed green. Then, with Hamlin and Austin Cindric battling for the lead, a huge wreck took place down the backstretch, where William Byron came away unscathed. It led to the No. 24 team’s second consecutive victory in The Great American Race.

While many have clamored for NASCAR to let the drivers at least race back to the line, especially after what happened during the second Daytona Dual race between Erik Jones and the aforementioned Cindric, it’s the inconsistency that bothers Hamlin regarding the entire ordeal.

“It’s inconsistent. Listen, here’s how this is going to go. If a wreck happens before the white, they will be quick to throw the yellow. If it happens after the white, they will be late to throw the yellow. That’s just the way this is typically trending. So get used to it,” Hamlin stated, via his Actions Detrimental podcast. “I was one of the last — I think I was the only one that crashed hard that was sitting there in Turn Three and Turn Four. Was I going to affect the finish? No, I thought that the dispatch vehicles were there in a timely manner. My issue was I couldn’t get the car refired. So, I didn’t have any issue with it at all.

“Riley [Herbst] spun, didn’t make any contact, actually kept going. I think they’ll let you get to Turn Three. I think they would have let it, you know — had he nosed it in the wall right after the start-finish-line, I think they probably would have let us race into three and then called it, because they don’t — they’re not going to want you coming to the line full-steam ahead.”

Evidently, Hamlin’s problem with the matter has to do with drivers simply flooring it to get through a wreck on the final lap, not caring what they’ll hit. For someone like Hamlin, who was vulnerable in the middle of the track on the final lap, it’s certainly a dangerous predicament.

“I think the problem that the drivers have with it, and I saw it on our group text, is that, ‘Oh, so we’re racing back to the caution now,’ or, ‘We’re racing back in the middle of wreck.’ So initially, the reason that they throw the caution when they see cars making heavy damage is that they don’t want you driving through there, and it’s just a matter of then who holds it wide-open and closes their eyes and hopes they don’t hit anyone,” Hamlin added. “So by them not throwing the caution there, it actually rewarded those who kept their foot in the gas the entire way on the last lap.

“You know, I was wrecked, and then somebody came up from the bottom and hit me in the left-side door. Like, hard. I don’t know if it was because they, you know, they kept their foot in it, or they just got clipped or something. But I think, from the driver safety standpoint, they’re a little worried that this is a slippery slope. By not throwing the caution, you’re still rewarding those who keep your foot all the way in the gas.

“But I don’t know. I just think that from the drivers, I think they feel very vulnerable sitting in the middle of the racetrack. Just because it doesn’t affect the finish, you don’t throw a caution. So then I’m sitting in the middle of the racetrack in a green condition while cars are still coming. So, that’s unsafe for us drivers.”

All told, the multiple time Daytona 500-winner makes some salient points, and it’ll be interesting to see how NASCAR polices caution flags on the final lap moving forward. Denny Hamlin still put up an incredible fight over the weekend, even if he went from first to the back due to a wreck on the final lap.