Nascar News: Denny Hamlin Offers Fix After Brickyard 400 Chaos At Restart

Denny Hamlin has witnessed his fair share of NASCAR competitions unfold with controversy, but the recent chaos during the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway particularly struck a chord. The veteran driver’s experience was marred by a difficult finish defined by a final caution and a decision that ultimately led to Kyle Larson clinching victory under contentious circumstances.

In the aftermath, during an episode of Actions Detrimental, Hamlin voiced strong reservations about how the race concluded, specifically the late decision to throw a caution.

“It was just a bad scenario all around at the end of that race. There were so many things that were just, were not — didn’t work out well, for a lot of people, and it was just, some of the calls, I thought, were just super questionable, when it comes to, you know, whether they throw that caution at the end or not,” Hamlin explained.

Addressing the final restart, Hamlin offered a potential solution to avoid similar situations in the future.

“So, I just think, in that situation, in the front row, maybe we just let the leader, or let the lone car left on the front row, stay there. No sliding up. Maybe that’s more fair, right? Does that seem like a more reasonable thing? Because it definitely changed the outcome of this reason, without a doubt,” he stated.

The race took a personal toll on Hamlin, who was involved in a major collision triggered by a chain of falling dominoes during the first overtime restart. As cars cluttered and visibility plummeted, Hamlin found himself in an unavoidable crash.

Reflecting on the incident, he said:

“I couldn’t see, there was a car coming across the track, I hit them.”

The race also proved frustrating due to the difficulty in overtaking, an issue that Hamlin likened to the restrained nature of a speedway race.

“Because you couldn’t pass, yeah. We’re all just kinda running in a line there, saving fuel. It’s like a speedway race, but we were just doing everything we could to get to the finish and couldn’t make it,” he shared in his post-accident interview with Frontstretch.

2024 Brickyard 400 Results

1. Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet)
2. Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing, Toyota)
3. Ryan Blaney (Team Penske, Ford)
4. Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota)
5. Bubba Wallace (23XI Racing, Toyota)
6. Todd Gilliland (Front Row Motorsports, Ford)
7. Austin Cindric (Team Penske, Ford)
8. Daniel Suarez (Trackhouse Racing, Chevrolet)
9. Noah Gragson (Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford)
10. Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet)
11. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet)
12. Carson Hocevar (Spire Motorsports, Chevrolet)
13. Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet)
14. Corey LaJoie (Spire Motorsports, Chevrolet)
15. Ross Chastain (Trackhouse Racing, Chevrolet)
16. Michael McDowell (Front Row Motorsports, Ford)
17. Zane Smith (Spire Motorsports, Chevrolet)
18. Cody Ware (Rick Ware Racing, Ford)
19. Ty Dillon (Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet)
20. Justin Haley (Rick Ware Racing, Ford)
21. Brad Keselowski (RFK Racing, Ford)
22. Chris Buescher (RFK Racing, Ford)
23. Ty Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota)
24. Chase Briscoe (Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford)
25. Kyle Busch (Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet)
26. Ryan Preece (Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford)
27. Martin Truex, Jr. (Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota)
28. Erik Jones (LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, Toyota)
29. John Hunter Nemechek (LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, Toyota)
30. Daniel Hemric (Kaulig Racing, Chevrolet)
31. Alex Bowman (Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet)
32. Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota)
33. Jimmie Johnson (LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, Toyota)
34. Joey Logano (Team Penske, Ford)
35. Josh Berry (Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford)
36. Harrison Burton (Wood Brothers Racing, Ford)
37. AJ Allmendinger (Kaulig Racing, Chevrolet)
38. William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet)
39. BJ McLeod (MBM Motorsports, Ford)