“This Is a Continued Problem”: Denny Hamlin Absolves Kevin Harvick, Slams His Own NASCAR Driver After Mishap

The first playoff race at Darlington went south for Stewart Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick just when it all looked promising. Things could have been different, had the #45 car of Tyler Reddick not caused a wreck at an important moment. While discussing the on-track incident, 23XI Racing’s co-owner Denny Hamlin spoke about the actions of his driver.

The JGR driver argued that Reddick’s team had been in the wrong for taking such an enormous risk, which eventually ended up causing a setback for the #4 car.

Denny Hamlin slams his own driver for bad call at Darlington

While speaking about the subject over his podcast, Hamlin mentioned, “So as I understood it, basically Harvick was going to undercut Reddick. So undercut means that he’s going to pit sooner than the person that he is following.”

“In the efforts that that one extra lap on tires that will be about a second and a half faster, will then put him in front of Reddick. And then Reddick to pit and Reddick would come out, presumably, you know, half a second behind it, but with only one lap fresher tires.”

Hamlin explained that teams often use the undercut strategy at the racetrack since track position is a crucial factor. He observed that during the race, the #4 car was about to pit. Therefore, the #45 team tried to make a quick decision to pit at that moment to avoid getting undercut. However, if Reddick had not made the stop at the same time, he would not have been able to overtake Harvick during the green flag later on.

Hamlin added, “This is a continued problem with the #45 of hitting under green. But they’ve got to stop taking the chances that they’re taking… Live to run another lap like putting yourself in immediate danger. Luckily, Newman (Ryan) didn’t just run right into his door and end his race. Thank goodness, Newman checked up and essentially spun himself. But you know, I get it.”

Hamlin acknowledges Harvick’s loss due to the #45’s pit call

Speaking further regarding his driver, the JGR driver stated, “Harvick was close to you, don’t want to get undercut but you can’t take that kind of risk.”

“Trying to come to pit road and it ended up it screwed Harvick for sure, bad.” The JGR driver further observed that due to the caution, Harvick was unable to avoid the pit road commitment box as it was too late to turn away.

Eventually, the SHR driver ended up getting a penalty for pitting while the pit road had been closed. At the end of the race, the soon-to-retire driver could only muster a 19th-position finish, which was detrimental to his playoff plans going forward.