Denny Hamlin: Spotters need to 'shut the f*** up' on the radio

One of the most controversial elements of a highly contentious finish to the Cook Out 400 was the spotter for Austin Dillon urging him to wreck other drivers to beat them out to the finish line.

It was a communication that drew punishment from NASCAR and has certainly drawn scorn from other drivers.

“I’m starting to be more and more in the boat of get rid of these stupid spotters, man,” said Denny Hamlin, one of the drivers Dillon wiped out to reach the finish line with the win. “(Door Bumper Clear podcast) might not like it, and I know it’ll never happen, and you can’t because we have superspeedways and it’s a safety thing. But they’ve got to shut the f*** up, man. They do, they’re not driving the car.”

NASCAR officially handed down a three-race suspension for Austin Dillon’s spotter, Brandon Benesch. Benesch was heard on the team radio yelling ‘Wreck him!’ during the final chaotic stretch.

Of course, along with the suspension comes the scrutiny of the rest of the NASCAR field.

“It’s just, it’s interesting that they believe that that’s like a legitimate way to win,” Denny Hamlin said on the Actions Detrimental podcast. “You were on your way to a legitimate win, but then you got beat and you have to live with getting beat on that restart. You didn’t do a good enough job that the 22 did. And you have to take that L and say, ‘Damnit, if I had to do it all over again I would have got a better restart and I would have beat the 22. But I didn’t, and the 22 earned the right to win that race via his restart.’ But it took zero talent to wipe someone out and then wipe someone else out.”

The news for Austin Dillon, of course, will sting. NASCAR ruled that he cannot use his win for playoff eligibility because he drove in a way that was detrimental to the sport.

It’s an unfortunate turn of events, particularly because Dillon was in position to win cleanly before the wreck between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece sent the race to overtime.

“It’s a shame that his win’s going to get tainted by this, because he had a legitimate win coming,” Denny Hamlin pointed out. “But I just don’t agree with the avenue that he chose and I think it’s wrong and I think the rulebook says that it’s wrong and it’s up to our sport to lay their foot down, say that this is unacceptable. They do it everywhere. Every series officiates these kind of things to keep us within bounds. Conduct, it says it, to have proper conduct on the racetrack. I just, you guys, tell me how it could be possibly worse than this.”