Denny Hamlin, Steve Letarte react to NASCAR directive for non-playoff cars at Martinsville, Phoenix

Denny Hamlin and Steve Letarte provided some fascinating thoughts regarding the NASCAR Cup Series title-deciding race at Phoenix Raceway during the latest episode of Hamlin’s Actions Detrimental podcast.

One of the themes heading into Arizona was race manipulation, and drivers not racing certain playoff drivers who share their manufacturer with full effort. In the wake of the controversy, NASCAR evidently directed certain drivers to move out of the way for Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, as the race was coming to a close at Phoenix.

While Hamlin didn’t have a problem with it, due to not wanting lapped-cars to decide who wins the title, he did find it strange after everything NASCAR said during the time prior to Phoenix.

“I don’t know whether it was publicly stated or not, but NASCAR said that — evidently they say this pretty often,” Hamlin stated. “At the end of the Martinsville race, they came on the radio and told the spotters, ‘If it is not your day, get out of the way and let the cars through.’ I, you know, when we got into the whole race manipulation thing, we covered it last week, but I just found it very interesting.

“I said, ‘Wait a minute, NASCAR said, what?’ They said, ‘If it’s not your day, get out of the way, let the cars through.’ And it was like, ‘I wonder who they’re speaking to.’”

In response, Letarte likened it to golf, making a solid analogy for why NASCAR reacted the way they did. No sport would want their championship directly decided by a back-marker, and that’s why the decision-makers did what they had to do.

“So in my mind, I don’t know who they’re speaking to, but I have no problem with that message if they are speaking to people that are not on the lead lap,” Letarte added. “Because if you’re on the lead lap, unlike a golf tournament, you can’t make up 20 strokes in the last hole. In racing, you can.

“You could — the caution could come out, you could stay out, you could be — I mean, anything can happen. If you’re laps down, (no).”

Regardless, NASCAR’s directive allowed Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney to have an exhilarating race to the finish at Phoenix, but the latter came up just a bit short. The playoff format may be a point of contention for many, but it delivered an entertaining ending last weekend.