Denny Hamlin reacts to NASCAR making change to avoid flips ahead of Daytona

NASCAR mandated a new right-side rear-window air deflector for this past Saturday’s race at Daytona, the hope being it would prevent cars from flipping over.

The sanctioning body implemented the new procedure following Corey LaJoie’s scary flip down the backstretch the week prior at Michigan, though it didn’t exactly keep the cars on the ground in the Coke Zero Sugar 400. Daytona saw multiple cars take flight and flip over, including Josh Berry, who turned over and hit the wall while upside down.

Denny Hamlin, speaking on Sunday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast, said he doesn’t have a “giant issue” with cars flipping, citing the low rate of injuries during those types of wrecks. Berry himself walked away clean from his violent flip and subsequent contact with the wall.

“No one like flips, right, but I just don’t have a giant issue with it. Because there hasn’t been many major injuries come from flipping,” Hamlin said. “You’re dispersing energy when you’re flipping. If Josh Berry’s car does not flip over, he hits the inside wall harder. Because when he flips over, that is essentially slowing his car down. As it’s turned to the side, starts to flip over, his car is slowing in speed. If that car doesn’t and it just streamlines into the inside wall without a flip, it’s going faster. You’ve taken from point A to point B to a faster rate.”

Denny Hamlin shares how NASCAR could limit flipping during wrecks

Looking at the upcoming playoff schedule, Hamlin doesn’t see this being a discussion moving forward. Of the 10 playoff tracks, perhaps only Talladega is a threat to see cars flip over. Hamlin added that the only way for NASCAR to control the flips is to slow the cars down, which he’s not in favor of.

“Short of making us run a 160 mph around the track, I just don’t know how you’re gonna keep us from these situations,” Hamlin said. “If they slow us down more, it’s just gonna make for harder contact and bigger wrecks. I don’t agree with slowing us down to, ‘We’re just gonna slow you down until these things don’t flip over anymore.’ They’ve been flipping over for decades but I just feel like it’s not necessarily a totally bad thing.”