Denny Hamlin’s Bristol playoff race went off the rails late when his #11 Toyota lost a right front wheel on lap 384. The incident, which was caused by contact with A.J. Allmendinger, brought out the caution and resulted in a 2-lap penalty for Hamlin. He finished 31st, 5 laps down in the elimination race for the Round of 16.
As a result, NASCAR suspended two members of Hamlin’s pit crew . Namely, front tire changer Austin Maloney and jackman Joel Bouagnon , for the next two Cup Series events. That will keep them out of the New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway races unless Joe Gibbs Racing requests a deferral.
Despite the bad day, Hamlin had already locked himself into the Round of 12 with his win earlier in the playoffs at Gateway. He’s now 26 points above the cutline and in a good spot in the standings.
Denny Hamlin says the pit crew suspensions after Bristol penalty is “not even my concern”
Speaking on the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin said:
“I have no idea who’s sitting on the bench or who’s ready, and it’s not even my concern… cuz that’s the crew chief. He he the people. Um, there’s nothing I can do about it. You know what I mean? My concern needs to be on the things that I can control.”
“Worried about, ‘oh my gosh, well, I hope that the fill-ins are this or that or, you know, are they young, are they old, are they good, are they bad? Are they?’ You’re just wasting my energy at that point. So, it’s not my concern because I just feel as though that’s someone else’s department to be concerned over. I’m gonna do my job to the best of my ability, and we’ll try to win with whoever we got,” he added.
The JGR driver made those comments during a season of change at Joe Gibbs Racing. His crew chief Chris Gabehart was promoted to a competition director role and Chris Gayle is now his crew chief.
Now with two regular crew members suspended, the #11 team will have to adjust under pressure again in the playoffs.
The Round of 12 starts this weekend at New Hampshire then Kansas and Talladega. Denny Hamlin has playoff points but pit stop execution will be key with substitute crew members. The Bristol debacle showed how quickly momentum can shift in the playoffs but he’s still in the top 12 heading into the second round.
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