Denny Hamlin recaps Richard Childress Racing drama during Xfinity Series race
Denny Hamlin had some feelings he had to make known regarding the Richard Childress Racing drama at Saturday’s Xfinity Series race.
By now, NASCAR fans know what happened between teammates Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill at the end of the Martinsville cut-off race on Saturday. During the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin explained what his own eyes saw as the final laps ticked off.
“You’ve got these two RCR teammates with Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill up at the front. Both have an opportunity to make it to the final four,” Hamlin delineated. “Sheldon needs to win. Austin Hill doesn’t need to win, but he needs to be in the top couple, because Cole Custer is charging there, towards the end. … You watch the final restart, and the No. 21 (Hill) started it first. He drove in there, and he just kind of side-swiped the No. 2 (Creed). He gassed up early and then drove up the track, to try to get the No. 2 up and out of the groove, which he was already. Then the No. 2 kind of just paid it back. Then they were racing, and the next thing you know it was just, the No. 2 got in the middle of turns three and four coming to the checkered, and it looks like he slows down. I don’t know why he would do that.
“That’s the only question I would have, ‘Well, the checkered flag is 200 yards in front of you, what are you,’ — this is all assumptions, ‘What are you doing slowing down?’ Your ticket to the final four is right up front. I don’t care who you’re mad at or whatever, like you’ve got to just get to the checkered and work it out later.”
Regardless, Hamlin isn’t placing the blame solely on Hill or Creed. He believes it was simply a derivative of the playoff format NASCAR has at the moment.
“I see people trying to place blame on Austin Hill, place blame on Sheldon Creed. I don’t think it was anyone’s fault really,” Hamlin added. “Like I didn’t think anyone did anything crazy egregious between those two on the race-track. I think that certainly Sheldon, you look at social media, they clearly kind of have his back, and think that you know, he’s racing for the win.
“He knows he has to win. He’s doing what he needs to do. He gave Austin Hill a fair shot to race him. It just didn’t work out. They ended up wiping each other out. Creed doesn’t make it, Austin Hill doesn’t make it.”
We’ll see how Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill race each other at Phoenix, but it’ll be fascinating to see if some more firework fly on Saturday afternoon.