Denny Hamlin reacts to Brad Keselowski pit road disaster at Pocono, assigns blame

Brad Keselowski had some serious speed at Pocono Raceway this past weekend. However, a huge mistake — pitting while pit road was closed, while leading no less — put him in a bind throughout the race.

The decision ruined what was shaping up to be the No. 6 Ford team’s best run of the season. Afterwards, Denny Hamlin tried to make sense of what was going through Keselowski’s mind, and how shocking it was to watch the massive mistake come to fruition.

“The pace car has really bright lights on the back of it. When pit road is open, those lights are green and they’re flashing. When it’s closed, they are red and they’re flashing. I thought he was trying to bait one of us into going to pit lane,” Hamlin stated, via the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast. “Then, he steers off and catches us, I’m thinking he’s going, ‘Ha-ha-ha, tricked you guys, pit road is closed,’ because that’s what me and Carson were doing. The No. 6 is going down there, and at that time, I steer down there like I’m going. I knew the whole time it was closed. Obviously, I see these bright lights that are flashing red. So I’m like, ‘Surely the No. 6 is going to swerve off of this,’ nope, he’s not. I’m like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ But, it happens. It’s not the first time that it’s ever happened.

“There’s plenty of warnings on pit road, and the spotter too. Usually they’re telling the team and the driver, pit road’s open, pit road’s closed. I don’t know. I didn’t hear any of the transmission.”

So whose fault was it in the end, Keselowski, his crew chief, his spotter or someone else? Hamlin believes the buck stops with the driver. The 41-year-old had no problem shouldering the blame, even if it stung.

“By far, the driver. He’s the one steering the car,” Hamlin added. “It’s your team’s job to tell you if pit road is closed or open. But you’ve got to look at the — NASCAR gives you two points of reference. The pace car — it’s not like he was sixth in line and the pace car is up there. He’s right behind the pace car, and it’s flashing red. It never flashed anything but red. It’s on the driver.”

Moving forward, Brad Keselowski will be hoping to put his mistake at Pocono behind him. Regardless, he’ll likely need a win to get into the playoffs at this point in time. It’ll be tough to beat some of the best drivers in the sport, like Denny Hamlin, but count out the former champion at your own risk.