Denny Hamlin concedes he left a 'few feet early' on race-winning restart at Richmond
Denny Hamlin picked up career-win No. 53 and his second of the season in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway, though it didn’t come without some controversy.
During the final restart of the race in overtime, in which Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. sat on the front row, Truex accused Hamlin of leaving the restart zone early. Though NASCAR reviewed the restart and said it was “awful close,” they deemed it to be a good restart.
Hamlin, speaking on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast on Monday, conceded that he “went pretty early in the zone.”
“I went pretty early in the zone,” Hamlin said. “… It’s a restart zone. Certainly, if you fire in a zone that they know you’re going to fire in, let’s not even say zone — in a spot — if they know you’re going to fire in a spot, they can actually fire before you. I concede that on TV, it looks worse than what it felt like in the car. Now, a lot of the reason of that is that when I’m restarting the race, I’m not looking at the flagman, I’m not looking at my dash, I’m not looking at anything. All I’m looking at is my mirror and my side peripheral.”
Joey Logano sat P3 for the restart. Hamlin said Logano “dictated the restart” since he was laying back coming out of Turn 4. Hamlin didn’t want to give up his leader advantage and took off as a result.
Denny Hamlin sounds off on final restart at Richmond
“So, all I’m doing is trying to time what speed is the outside car going and then I’m looking in the mirror to see OK, how close is the car behind me? And clearly, Joey is laying back and if we really want to get into technicalities, you should not be laying back,” Hamlin said. “But he laid back enough to where I could see him start to creep towards me. At that point, I’m thinking in my head [that] I’m not going to let him roll to me and then as soon as the gap closes, take off. Because then he’s got an advantage. He’s going to be pushing me, he’s going to pull out of line. He dictated the restart, not me.
“And the same with the 19 — I saw him creeping forward and just understand that every mile per hour that you start quicker, you’re that same mile per hour faster all the way until we lift. So, all the way down the front straightaway, you’ve got that one mile per hour advantage. So, I don’t want to give up the advantage of being the leader. At that point, I see the restart zone, I’m coming off of Turn 4 and all I’m doing is looking mirror side. When I see him starting to creep, I take off. So, I don’t see where I’m at in the zone. And so, I concede definitely that it is a few feet early.”
Martin Truex Jr. admits he ‘lost his mind’ in text to Denny Hamlin
Truex, who finished a P4, wasn’t happy with Hamlin. After Hamlin had crossed the checkered line as the winner, Truex accelerated to him and bumped his No. 11 Toyota a few times. Hamlin said he texted Truex, wanting to know why he was so upset.
“I’ll paraphrase it for you, he says ‘No, we’re all good I just lost my mind.’ That’s what he said, paraphrasing. ‘No, you’re fine, I lost my mind there for a minute.’ My response is, well rightfully so,” Hamlin said. “He obviously deserved to win the race, he had the race won, but surely that was a bad five minutes for him and the 19 team.”