Denny Hamlin weighs in on NASCAR's cutoff time at Chicago, how it compares to last year

Denny Hamlin thinks that NASCAR handled the cutoff time for this year’s Chicago Street Race better than last year. On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin explained how the 8:20 p.m. local end time for the race on Sunday impacted his team and how it was different from last year.

“This was better because the teams were planning for this well in advance,” Hamlin said. I think last year the problem was we got such short notice. I just remember being caught off guard saying, ‘Whoa, wait a minute, there’s five laps to go?’ I think that this certainly was better.

“I see do you then forgo the end of Stage 2 caution? Maybe. But then you’re starting to make up rules as you go. I think they didn’t need to change any more rules, especially mid-race for this one. I understand that we wanted to see more green flag racing, I totally get that and I understand what the people want to see, but you have to keep the integrity of this race. Here’s the rules we set forth, and changing them mid-race, it loses a little bit of legitimacy, in my opinion. I think they did the right thing by throwing that caution, even though it’s not the best for the show.”

The race ended at 8:20 local time due to it getting dark in the area. It was set to start at 3:30 p.m. but there was a delay before the race due to the weather. Another weather delay took place during the race which lasted for two hours.

Denny Hamlin reacts to Tyler Reddick’s run at Chicago

Hamlin did not win the Chicago Street Race, but his 23XI Racing driver, Tyler Reddick, finished second behind Alex Bowman. On the podcast, Hamlin reacted to Reddick not being able to get past Bowman at the end of the race.

“It’s a bummer,” Hamlin said. “I thought he was going to get there, especially as quickly as he was running him down. But yeah, fundamentals is the — to finish first, you must first finish and so I think it’s just he’s gonna be tough on himself, but he’s trying everything he can. He’s probably thinking at that point he’s got two more legitimate passing opportunities. He wasn’t gonna be close enough off of Turn 5 where he hit the wall to get him into Turn 6.”

On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this story.