What Happened Between Denny Hamlin & Chris Buescher on Pit Road During NASCAR Cup Race at Charlotte?

Last Sunday, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin’s outing at Charlotte Motor Speedway saw the #11 Toyota Camry XSE driver finish in P5 during the 2024 Coca-Cola 600. The rain-shortened event saw the Virginia native bag another top-10 finish, his fifth since his appearance at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this season.

However, last Sunday’s marquee NASCAR event saw Hamlin distressed with fellow Cup Series driver Chris Buescher. The RFK Racing driver happened to have the pit box ahead of the JGR driver on the pit road leading to troubles for both teams. The issue arose when Buescher was seen parking in such a manner that Hamlin could not make a clear exit after being serviced by his team during the event.

This led to the Toyota driver mouthing off to his crew chief on the radio. Hamlin urged his team to find solutions as the 23XI Racing owner seemed ready to take matters into his own hands.

It is worth noting that Buescher’s poor parking in his pit box at Charlotte was a chain reaction triggered by the #42 driver John Hunter Nemechek who too didn’t line up his car correctly in his pit box, forcing the RFK driver to do the same to make a clear exit.

The domino effect ultimately affected Denny Hamlin who at one point during the race had to be pushed backward by his team to leave his pit box.

Denny Hamlin comments on Chris Buescher’s parking skills, former crew chief chimes in with a solution

Denny Hamlin was surprised to realize the size of the pit boxes at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s pit road after running into troubles with Chris Buescher during last weekend’s race.

The owner-driver elaborated on his fellow competitor’s parking skills as well as the size of the pit boxes on his podcast Actions Detrimental, “The #17 car was the last guy to get picked so there was only one spot left right in front of me. It was the worst parking jobs you’ve ever seen.”

He added, “It’s crazy that on a mile-and-a-half racetrack, a track that is that big we have stalls that small. Can we redraw the lines at Charlotte Motor Speedway?”

Former crew chief turned FOX Sports broadcaster Larry McReynolds also chimed in with a solution on what Hamlin could have done during the race. He cited the #11 team for having adjusted where they stopped in their pit stall by keeping the rear tires of their car inside the lines for legality reasons while hanging the rear portion of the #11 Toyota outside the line to allow for a smoother exit.