On Sunday, Denny Hamlin grabbed his second victory of the 2024 season at Richmond. The successful evening came in a fashion typical to that of the Joe Gibbs Racing star, clouded with controversy. A last-minute restart and a pitch-perfect pit stop helped Hamlin gain an advantage over his teammate Martin Truex Jr. and collect the honor of being Lady Fortune’s favorite.
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Since his flight through the checkered flag in pole position, the NASCAR world has been divided over the question of whether he jumped the restart or not. While many including Truex Jr. see things along the former line, not everybody does. Fox Sports analyst Clint Bowyer is one among them.
Responding to a fan’s opinion on X that accused Hamlin of jumping the restart, Bowyer cleared the air and explained that it wasn’t so. He wrote, “I’ll have to go back and watch but I thought I initially said he went early. We asked NASCAR and they said it was good. Replays showed it was obviously closer. By the start/finish, they were all but back door to door. The race was won on pit road.“
Judging Hamlin’s #11 crew to have been the best on Sunday is an easy call to make. Headed by Crew Chief Chris Gabehart, it was the quickest on the grid and helped the driver to a crucial victory. Talking to reporters post-race, Hamlin couldn’t avoid throwing light on their vitality. “Tonight was them, for sure,” he said.
How NASCAR views the accusations against Hamlin’s restart at Richmond
Following the frustration of the night, Truex Jr. accused his teammate of jumping the restart and using him up. However, NASCAR doesn’t concur with his opinion. Elton Sawyer, the promotion’s vice president of competition, said according to Sportsnaut.com, “We reviewed that. We looked at it. Obviously, the 11 was the control vehicle. It was awful close but we deemed it to be a good restart.”
Hamlin, himself, believes that the restart was very quick and he had his reasons for keeping it so. “Yeah, I mean, I went right at it, for sure,” he said. “I did that because I saw those guys rolling to me. (Logano) was laying back. (Truex) was rolling a couple of miles an hour quicker than I was. I wasn’t going to let them have an advantage that my team earned on pit road.”
With Hamlin’s victory, Truex Jr. has been left without a victory for yet another week. Considering that Richmond is one of his better tracks, the way things ended must surely sting a bit.
