The late restart at Richmond Raceway stirred up controversy within the NASCAR community and prompted scrutiny of race winner Denny Hamlin’s actions as he passed his teammate Martin Truex Jr on the last lap. Truex expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which Hamlin took the lead from him, voicing his discontent. However, Denny Hamlin had a different perspective to counter his teammate’s accusations.
Denny Hamlin resonates with his last-minute move
Denny Hamlin concedes it was close to a jumped restart but he wasn't going to give up the advantage his pit crew gave him pic.twitter.com/4P5FwtIwL1
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) April 1, 2024
When Truex Jr.’s thoughts were put in front of Hamlin post-race, he defended himself with some valid reasoning. His pitstop time was 8.99 seconds, whereas Truex Jr.’s was 10.29 seconds. As per the post by Matt Weaver on X Denny Hanlin took responsibility for the pass and called it an advantage his #11 car had over his teammate and called it he had because of his lightning-fast pit crew and he didn’t want to waste it.
During the post-race interview, Hamlin said, “Yeah, I mean, I went right at it, for sure. I did that because I saw those guys rolling to me. (Logano) was laying back. (Truex) was rolling a couple of miles an hour quicker than I was. I wasn’t going to let them have an advantage that my team earned on pit road.”
Martin Truex Jr accused Hamlin of the controversial move
Truex didn't appreciate Hamlin racing him that way
Took a it is what it is tone pic.twitter.com/I4joiIgvNA
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) April 1, 2024
After a caution flag brought out by Bubba Wallace’s spin, all 15 lead-lap cars chose to pit. Hamlin’s pit crew performed swiftly, allowing him to exit the pit road ahead of Truex and Joey Logano. This crucial pit stop put Hamlin in a favorable position. After a caution flag brought out by Bubba Wallace’s spin, all 15 lead-lap cars chose to pit. Hamlin’s pit crew performed swiftly, allowing him to exit the pit road ahead of Truex and Joey Logano. This crucial pit stop put Hamlin in a favorable position.
Truex expressed, “I feel like the #11 [Hamlin] used me up going into Turn 1 and I didn’t appreciate a teammate racing me like that. I wish he would have given me a chance. That’s the way it is.”
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