“Let Me Be Honest..”: Where Denny Hamlin Went Against the Other Drivers Amid Drama During Darlington

There was considerable anticipation going into the first playoff race at Darlington and the race certainly did not disappoint. The on-track action kept aside, one of the main requirements for racing under the lights is the proper functioning of the lights, right? Well, that is exactly what partially failed during the playoff starter race at Darlington Raceway last weekend.

While the obvious decision had been to bring out a caution till the lights were brought back to order, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin had a different train of thought going through his head at the moment.

Denny Hamlin explains his decision to go against the majority at Darlington

While speaking on his latest podcast episode, Hamlin explained why he suggested carrying on with the race despite some portions of the track missing lights. He said, “I said to Chris, Chris says, ‘Hey, they wanna know what you think about the lights…”

“Let me be honest, from my perspective out front when there’s not there’s nothing in front of me. So I think it’s fine, but I understand… If you’re in the middle of the pack, it’s probably going to be challenging. So I was fine with them stopping it. I’m really happy to see it.”

Furthermore, Hamlin was worried that it would take a long time to fix the power outage when the power company was called. However, the issue was resolved quickly, and there was only a brief 5-10-minute break before the lights were back on. He noted that this was the only non-racing drama that occurred during the race.

Bad luck marred Hamlin’s first playoff race

The first two stages had been smooth sailing for Hamlin, where he ended up winning both of them. However, everything seemed to be falling out of place as the final stage began. The problems started when the JGR driver felt that his rear left tire was not secured correctly, so he made an additional pit stop.

As the race progressed, Hamlin was caught up in a wreck that was seemingly started by Kyle Busch. Thereafter, it was nearly impossible for him to recover with only a handful of laps remaining before the conclusion of the event.

At the end of the day, it was Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson who took the checkered, earning much-needed playoff points. Although had things gone smoothly, judging by the pure pace, it would have been a clean three-stage sweep for Hamlin at Darlington.