Denny Hamlin reacts to Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott wreck at Las Vegas, assigns blame
Denny Hamlin had a front row seat to the Lap 90 accident involving Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott among others during Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Hamlin, riding in ninth at the time, saw as Reddick tried to execute a pass up top on Elliott, who was sandwiched in the middle with Martin Truex Jr. on the bottom. Hamlin said on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast that “you could see it brewing,” explaining what led to both Reddick and Elliott making contact with one another.
Denny Hamlin on Lap 90 accident at Las Vegas: ‘You could see it brewing’
“You could see it brewing,” Hamlin said. “You had the 19 [Martin Truex Jr.] and the 9 [Elliott] kind of mid racetrack and the 19, the spotter was probably telling him he was only one car outside. The problem with that was Tyler Reddick was coming on the top side, so you gotta plan for that but in these Next Gen cars, you can’t just turn left. We’re all taking these cars to the excess limit of the grip.
“So, the 19’s using all the racetrack and he’s getting closer and closer to the 9 and as these cars get close to each other and we’ve seen these aero situations boom, they take a hard right and it takes the downforce off of each car, really biases towards tighter and forces them up the track naturally. Well, the 45 [Reddick] comes with this huge run and doesn’t get to the outside of the 9 until late in the corner and by then, the 9 wanted to back out, he saw this coming I bet you three seconds before it happened. He tried to back out, but it was just too late.”
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The contact sent Reddick spinning through the frontstretch grass. His No. 45 Toyota at one point flipped completely over but landed on all fours. Both sustained significant damage, as did fellow playoff driver Ryan Blaney.
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In assessing blame for the wreck, Hamlin went with Reddick, his 23XI Racing driver.
“Looking back at it, I thought it was probably too aggressive on Tyler’s fault at that point in the race,” Hamlin said. “I understand he’s trying to have one of these big days and he clearly has a car that can win. He doesn’t wanna get trapped back in traffic, but it just seemed like you’re asking a little too much from your competitors down low to leave a lane really late on the exit of the corner and they didn’t.
“The blame probably goes 1A to the 45, 1B is to the 19. The 9 had nothing to do with any of it, like he’s just an innocent bystander in the middle who held his lane, saw it coming, tried to back out and it was too late.”
Reddick, the Stage 1 winner, finished 35th and Elliott 33rd, 27 laps down. Both have work to do heading into Homestead next Sunday, as Reddick is 30 points below the cutline while Elliott is 53 points back.