Many drivers weren’t pleased with the racing at the end of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas. Denny Hamlin was one of those people, and he didn’t hold back in calling out drivers who he felt were responsible for the numerous crashes in Turn 1.
Hamlin was on his Actions Detrimental podcast, where he went back to look at the four late crashes to figure out who was at fault for each. While he eliminated intent from the conversation, Hamlin made sure to point out those who had nobody behind them and had the opportunity to brake and avoid contact with the person in front of them. Instead, those drivers simply chose not to slow down and play “bumper cars” with the guy in front.
Ross Chastain was competing for the win one moment, and then was spun in the next. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/67aTyhYLDo
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) March 26, 2023
On the caution with nine laps to go:
“There was two main people that I thought were responsible for just the absolute chaos,” Hamlin said. “You had the #2 car shoving the middle, just pushing the #43. There’s nobody behind the #2 pushing him, he just lays on the #43’s bumper, shoves the #43 and…then the #43 spins the #1… Then you got Harvick in the #4, he’s on another lane. Again, comes in there smoking the tires, way too deep. He lays into the #16, and then the #16 hits the #3. So I’m gonna hold the #2 car, which is Austin Cindric, and the #4 car, Kevin Harvick, responsible. Are my, kind of my, ‘What an idiot’ for that caution.”
On the restart with seven laps to go:
“The #1, so the #1 car spun there. So he goes to the back, Chastain goes to the back, and he’s probably super ****** at the time. So I watched him go from last, essentially, and he just drives in on the bottom, and just ships it in on the bottom, and he just starts pogoing cars from the bottom lane. So when that happened, somebody hit somebody, somebody then hit somebody, and then somebody spun up front. And that in my mind was from Chastain shipping it on the bottom just saying, ‘**** it. I just got wrecked and we’re gonna cause some chaos here and hopefully it all works out.’ Which he gained a bunch of spots from.”
How many overtimes are we getting? #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/Fc0JoIuHB0
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) March 26, 2023
On the caution with two laps to go:
The 22 car then shipped it into the middle…So this was the Preece wreck, the one that he got absolutely ****** about and called everyone a “bunch of hacks.” I’m super proud of Preece and these drivers starting to embrace my quotes that I’ve said over the years, and I couldn’t agree with him more. So the reason he got wrecked, honestly, came from the #22 car, who him and the #20 had a ******* match, I think throughout the final restarts… But the #22, I’m gonna have to hold him accountable here and again, these are my opinions of what I saw, #22 shipped it into the middle, laid into the bumper of someone. He had nobody behind him, and he essentially caused this major wreck that the #41 spun and I don’t know I think the #38 spun. There’s a bunch of cars that spun, but it all started from the guys who came into the middle with reckless abandon. #22’s fault on this one.
Around goes Truex! pic.twitter.com/n83JSa0v3b
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 26, 2023
On the caution during the first overtime period:
“Okay, I think this is where the Bowman and the Chastain and the Suárez anger started… I tried to break it down. I tried to look at it and figure out who was really at fault in this deal because Daniel obviously got the **** end of the stick. It’s close, it’s really close. Bowman shipped it in there on the bottom. It’s gonna be very hard for him to make the corner, but he did attempt to slow down. He didn’t lay into the #99, he didn’t make contact with the #99 until the #1, who again did this a few laps before. Chastain, he shipped it in again on the bottom and you can see where he’s trying to slow down but he didn’t really attempt to slow down a whole lot. He hit the #48, the #48 then starts, you can see him trying to slow down, but then here comes the #14 of Briscoe. He’s shipping it on the bottom, nobody behind Briscoe. I watched, there was nobody, he had the option to slow down more. He didn’t. Then the #1 and the #14 tag team and hit the #48 of Bowman into Suárez. Suárez spins out. So I’m gonna call this a, most of the blame goes to Chastain and Briscoe on the #99 spinning. The #1 was the initial contact into Bowman, which knocked him in Suárez, but then the #14 then was shoving, I think he saw that that they were starting to make contact up there and he was just like, ‘Hey, let me join this party. You guys are all hitting each other so I think it’s okay.’ So he kept going and kept pushing from behind.”
Whenever you have late race restarts on superspeedways and road courses, these things tend to happen. And the sad thing is it works. For example, Ross Chastain spun with nine laps to go and restarted in the back of the pack. By the end of the race, after moving a bunch of cars out of the way, Chastain finished fourth. People wouldn’t do that if it didn’t work. And if you’re not doing the shoving, chances are you’re the one being shoved, and then your finishing position is hurt simply by trying to do the right thing.
With how sturdy the Next Gen car is, drivers can slam the back of the car in front without experiencing much damage on their car. It’s kind of like how football players’ heads are protected by their helmets that they wind up hitting by leading with the crown of their helmets and get injured that way. Drivers might be less reluctant to put the bumper on the car in front if their radiator is busted after that hit.
[Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin]
