Denny Hamlin Calls Out Pit Strategy by Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Team That Left Justin Allgaier Short-Handed Against Kyle Larson Challenge

“Mitigate your damages,” was the mantra Denny Hamlin seemed to swear by when talking about Justin Allgaier’s performance during the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway last Saturday.

The 2025 Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 could have been a sweep for Allgaier, given his history around the 1.5-mile-long facility. The JR Motorsports driver has led 575 laps in Texas, the third most by any driver in the junior series’ history. Yet, Cup Series regular Kyle Larson played spoilsport for the #7 Chevrolet driver.

Filling in for an injured Connor Zilisch, Larson managed to win the event after taking the lead from Allgaier, who led 99 laps of the event. After relinquishing the lead, the #7 driver’s charge behind Larson also ended prematurely after crashing with the lapped car of Kris Wright.

Hamlin spoke about what went wrong for Allgaier during an event that seemed firmly in his grasp and pointed the blame towards the team’s pit strategy.

He elaborated on an episode of Actions Detrimental, saying, “They just didn’t pit him at the right time… Allgaier was in some traffic, and then he was getting held up by that traffic. They ran him out there for three or four laps. Allgaier was dropping six-tenths battling with these guys.”

At this point, Denny Hamlin conveyed how he thinks Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team should have pitted the #7 car, allowing him to get serviced on pit road and avoid what was essentially a problem out on track that was hampering the car’s progress in the ultimate pursuit for the lead.

After completing his pit stop eventually, Allgaier was seen trying to chase Larson down, during which he made contact with a wayward Wright, ending his race. “Ultimately, it falls on my shoulders, right? We about got crashed before the green flag (pit) stop there.” said the dejected driver.

‘That guy is trying to lap the field again.’

Denny Hamlin also noticed another nuance during the 2025 Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 that fans might have missed. With Kyle Larson filling in for Zilisch, the Cup Series regular went ahead and gave Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team his all during the event.

Hamlin noted after taking the lead off Justin Allgaier, with about 50 laps to go in the event, Larson was running nearly half a second faster than his competitors on the track. Hamlin referenced this to Larson’s 2023 All Star Race victory where the Hendrick Motorsports driver led 145 of 200 laps in the event and went on to celebrate in typical slightly cocky Larson fashion.

He also posted on Instagram a video compilation of the weekend, which featured Super Late Model legend Scott Bloomquist’s words, “I would’ve lapped the field,” referencing his performance that weekend.

Hamlin opined that Larson seemingly was trying to do the same last Saturday. “I almost tweeted out that with almost 40-50 (laps) to go, that guy is trying to do that thing again, which is lap the field. It was consistent.”

Domination or not, Hamlin was correct in his analysis, and Larson certainly did lay a marker down not only for Connor Zilisch but for other Xfinity Series drivers as well in Texas.