Was Denny Hamlin’s Richmond Hit Worse Than Kurt Busch’s Career-Ending Blow?

NASCAR surprised many this week by coming down hard on Austin Dillon for his race infringements at Richmond on Sunday. The wrecks with Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano were deemed too dangerous and he was denied entry to the playoffs based on the victory that followed. Now, Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gabehart has come out with numbers from the SMT data that are truly shocking.

Speaking on SiriusXM on Thursday, Gabehart revealed that the G-Force spike on Hamlin when he hit the wall after being right-hooked by Dillon was 32g. This is higher than the 30g crash that the 2004 Cup Series champion Kurt Busch encountered in Pocono last year. This is also one of the hardest hits in the Next Gen era and could’ve easily led to a serious situation.

Gabehart said, “Some flagrant fouls are flagrant. They’re dangerous. That’s why you allow the referees to throw the flag. And we’ve just gotta get to a point where we’re willing to throw the flag on Sunday night. That’s the only thing I think we got wrong about this in my opinion.” His suggestion, or rather demand, is that the officiating body makes calls in such incidents on a more timely basis.

Nearly three full days were between the incident and NASCAR’s final verdict. This doesn’t cut it for Gabehart since there is a safety element involved. “I want us to get to a world where the officials feel empowered to make those decisions 60 hours ahead of time,” he added. Joe Gibbs Racing has received crash data 21 times from NASCAR and Hamlin’s G-Force spike at Richmond is the highest of them all.

Will NASCAR try to shorten the timeline of decision-making?

After providing the final call on Wednesday, NASCAR’s Senior VP of Competition, Elton Sawyer, apologized to the fans. “Totally understand our fans, I want to apologize to them for taking as long as it did. They’ve been patient through this process. So, I’m talking to them now, letting them know why it took so long to get to this decision.”

He went on to detail the extensive data analysis that went behind the decision and reasoned the time taken. Sawyer did assure that his team has been looking for ways to speed the process, expressing, “I think ultimately we would like to, and we will get to a place where we make this more on the spot if you will.” Gabehart would no doubt be happy to learn this.

Now that the SMT data is out, if NASCAR comes out with a statement regarding Hamlin’s impact at Richmond is anyone’s guess.