Steve Letarte rips NASCAR code words after Denny Hamlin’s ‘Cowboys’ snafu in Texas

During the first NASCAR pit stops at Texas on Sunday, Denny Hamlin had a major miscommunication due to code words. Hamlin went down pit road twice, just to pit once, and ended up getting hit with a speeding penalty in the process. Not ideal.

When Denny Hamlin came on the radio to explain, he said his team was talking over each other. He heard “Cowboys” and thought that code word meant one thing when his team wanted him to do another.

A very frustrating moment overall for the 11 team. After the race, Steve Letarte tore into the idea of “code words” being used on the radio.

“Where it all went wrong for Denny Hamlin was code words,” Letarte said on Inside the Race. “And I’m going to tell you, I hate them. Don’t like them, never used them, won’t ever use them, won’t support them. I heard the radio and they said Cowboys, and then there was miscommunication; he didn’t know what the code word was. But simply, I had code words, I’ve said this before. … It was ‘pit’ or ‘stay out.’ Pretty simple.

“I hate these code words, they drive me nuts. I feel like, I just feel like, look – I’m okay with I’m going to let you know in Turn 3. I don’t want to give my opponents two laps to think about what I’m going to do, right?”

To his credit, Steve Letarte shares the same opinion as Kevin Harvick on the matter. Harvick said he is totally against using code words as a driver.

Clearly, the NASCAR race at Texas was going to end early for Denny Hamlin anyway. His engine blew up soon after the botched pit stop happened.

NASCAR at Texas proves to be another challenge

Everyone is going to talk about the lack of passing at the front. There is going to be a lot said about how this car still can’t do anything in dirty air. All valid criticisms. But was the race at Texas bad?

12 cautions, 10 for cause on the day, the track at Texas gave NASCAR drivers fits all weekend long. For Xfinity and the Truck Series, it was the quad-oval grass. For the Cup drivers, it was the bump in Turns 3 and 4.

Look, everyone had to race on the same track. There was no secret to how Joey Logano ended up winning this race. He lasted through the wrecks and had the best car in the end. Besides, his pass on Michael McDowell for the lead was fantastic. All the way down against the inside wall on the backstretch.

Given how races had gone the last month, NASCAR at Texas was a good race. Kyle Larson was the only driver to start in the top-10 to finish in the top-10 at the end. A lot of drivers came from the back to the front. Logano started P27 and ended up winning.