Nearly a week since the Richmond controversy involving Denny Hamlin took NASCAR by storm, the conversation surrounding the jump start is still going strong. Almost everyone agrees that Hamlin did jump the start, and nobody seems to be satisfied with the promotion’s explanation as to why they did not penalize the JGR driver. However, Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gabehart had something else to say in his defense.
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While speaking with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, the veteran Crew chief explained how Hamlin was not the only guilty party at Richmond. He stated, “These are all really smart racecar drivers. And there’s a chess match going on inside the approach to the restart zone that every one of them is keenly aware of. They’re not making mistakes, they are calculated in what they’re doing.”
Gabehardt explained that all four veteran drivers up front were aware of the situation heading into the restart, arguing that everyone was calculating how to take the best advantage to leap ahead of the competition.
He added, “So I think the biggest thing I could say is, it’s a tough spot that we’re in and in my view… It wouldn’t matter if it was the 11 car that was in that position, or we were the 19 or 22. I would say this exactly the same way.”
“So let me be clear if you’re going to penalize the 11 car in that instance, you must also penalize the 19, the 22, and the 5. Because they were all laying back trying to time a run and that is also something that NASCAR says you can’t do.” Gabehardt concluded that everyone should just be more careful in what they wished on in this particular instance.
️ “If you’re going to penalize the 11 car in that instance, you must also penalize the 19, the 22 & the 5.”@RichmondRaceway winning crew chief Chris Gabehart (@CG1751) shares his take on the final restart that saw @dennyhamlin bring home the win.
→ https://t.co/MKhd9eLXG8 pic.twitter.com/CqpcqbODcq
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) April 4, 2024
Criticism against NASCAR grows following its decision to not penalize Hamlin
While nearly everyone knows that Hamlin did jump the start, no one seems to be happy with the way the promotion handled things. After NASCAR’s VP of competition, Elton Sawyer laid out its reasoning as to why they did not deem it necessary to review or penalize the JGR driver, several drivers, both current and former, expressed their dissatisfaction with the inconsistency surrounding the rule book.
Some of the drivers who weren’t pleased with the Richmond controversy were the likes of Dale Earnhardt Jr and Joey Logano among others. Logano mentioned, “I’ll tell you one thing, if I get black-flagged for doing that next week I’m going to be pissed. Because why was it okay last week?” He went on to state how NASCAR did not even choose to review the restart until Martin Truex Jr. said he jumped the start.
Similarly, Junior stated, “To come out and say, I think if it happened on lap 10, we’d have called it differently. That makes me even more angry…” Well, at the end of the day it seems that NASCAR has made up its mind regarding their call for the Richmond race, but moving forward into the season, all the drivers hope for is a sense of consistency with its ruling.
