Denny Hamlin had a fantastic start to last night’s race at Darlington Raceway. He led the field and almost effortlessly won the first two stages. However, the third and final stage proved to be a little more challenging than he had originally anticipated, given the pace of his #11 car. The JGR driver was forced to make an extra green flag pit stop and was involved in a late-race multi-car wreck, which caused him to sink through the field and finish in 25th position.
Advertisement
After the race, Hamlin spoke with the media and shared his thoughts about the race. He recognized that his team had provided him with a dominating car, but also acknowledged that mistakes had derailed his performance.
Denny Hamlin talks about the playoff race at Darlington
Speaking to the NBC Sports media personnel after the race, Hamlin mentioned, “Really good car. Just, we worked hard Darlington here to get us a race-winning car. Chris (Gabehart) and the whole team just did a great job giving me a car that obviously controlled the race, until we had some trouble. I mean it’s just part of it.”
The JGR veteran added, “Luckily we were able to get some stage points and come out with something. But, I really just wanted to win the race. I want to win as many majors, as many races as I can and yeah I don’t really care about the points. Just man, hate losing.”
Despite starting strong and leading for a good 177 of the 367 laps, Hamlin ultimately finished the race in 25th position. However, he did earn valuable stage points from his two stage wins, which would come in handy as we edge toward the first round of eliminations.
Hamlin explains what went wrong for him later in the race
Later, Hamlin revealed the details of what had ruined his chance of victory at the first playoff race of the season. Interestingly, just a day prior the JGR driver won the Xfinity Series race after a powerful run during the final few laps of the race.
Hamlin explained why he had to take that one extra pit stop, saying, “I felt a loose wheel. It’s really tough to tell… But they looked at the left rear did not, was still tightening as we were gone.”
He further explained why he made the call to come in for the extra stop. Apparently, he feared crashing out thinking he had a loose wheel in the left rear. Later talking about the wreck that he was involved in, Hamlin added, “I don’t know, I was trying to avoid some spinning cars and got in it.”
While attempting to avoid the multi-car wreck, Hamlin swerved out of the path of a spinning car. However, in the process he hit the car on the front splitter and the sudden change of direction and speed caused the car behind him to ram into his rear, sending him towards the wall, further ruining any prospect of recovering the race.
