Coach Gibbs had a troublesome night in Richmond last Sunday despite one of his cars grabbing the victory. Denny Hamlin’s win came at the cost of infuriating Martin Truex Jr. who was poised to reach the checkered flag first. A late restart shifted things in Hamlin’s favor and Truex Jr.’s frustration was only too clear as he repeatedly knocked into the back of his teammate’s car after crossing the start/finish line.
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Though Hamlin strongly defended himself in the post-race interviews about jumping the restart [allegedly], he has empathized with the aggression of Truex Jr. Talking on “Actions Detrimental”, he noted how the #19 driver dominated the race by leading 6 times over a 100 laps and lost out on a potential victory because of matters outside his control.
“It’s painful. It sucks a** because you do everything right. And then something out of your control takes you out. So, like I said to him, ‘Understandably so.’ You deserve to be upset,” he said. Truex Jr. led 228 of the 407 laps on Sunday and won a stage. Needless to say, it was a wonderful opportunity for him to get past his winless streak in the 2024 season.
Continuing on the podcast, Hamlin reiterated that his teammate raced flawlessly and just had an unfortunate caution derail his day.
Did the #19 pit crew let Truex Jr. down in the final pitstop in Richmond?
One of the reasons why Hamlin was able to get ahead of Truex Jr. on pit road was the perfectionism of his #11 crew. His stop was timed at 8.99 seconds, whereas Truex Jr.’s time was at 10.29 seconds. Winning the race on pit road, Hamlin believes that the #19 crew ought to have done a better job and helped its driver retain the lead.
“He got let down a little bit on the pit road,” he said. “I don’t know whether they let him down or we just beat them. I don’t know where you characterize this. I think we just beat them. I wouldn’t say they lost it more than we won it.” He added that Truex Jr.’s timing was very “middle of the road”.
Despite all the frustrations, the #19 driver currently sits atop the points table. A victory is the only thing lacking in his season thus far and he will burn to achieve that in Martinsville over the coming weekend.
