NASCAR’s Charlotte weekend didn’t really feel complete. Bad weather and repeated delays threw everything off. The Truck Series was postponed three times over two days and eventually ended early because of the noon time limit. The O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 was also heavily affected and was officially called after just 91 laps. Even the Coca-Cola 600 ended 27 laps short because of rain, affecting Denny Hamlin’s chances of winning his 62nd Cup Series race.
Hamlin, who won Stage 2, led 75 laps and was battling Christopher Bell for the lead when the caution came out. He wasn’t too happy afterward and blamed NASCAR’s race structure for how the race unfolded.
Advertisement
Denny Hamlin thinks NASCAR could have avoided an early stop to the Coca-Cola 600
“It’s hindsight. It’s all hindsight because this storm didn’t just pop up. It’s not like we saw this thing coming from forever away,” Hamlin said sarcastically, on the Actions Detrimental podcast.
Towards the final stage of the Coca-Cola 600, the warnings of approaching rain were sent out to the teams, and on lap 373, the final caution was pulled, because it started pouring on the track. The race was then called off. But NASCAR had enough time to finish the race, considering the skies in Concord were clear for most of the day.
Hamlin, who felt he lost a win, slammed NASCAR for not taking the necessary steps.
Advertisement
“Man, I wish there was a way we just moved everything up an hour, or, you know, not having as long of cautions for stages and just… If we could just tidy that up just a little bit,” he said.
Because so many laps had already been spent under caution during the night, there was less room left for teams to recover once the rain arrived. The stoppages and stage breaks had already eaten into the race distance, and when the final caution came out, Hamlin simply ran out of time.
This became another example of why stage cautions continue to divide opinion in NASCAR. At the end of every stage, the field is automatically put under caution, and those yellow flag periods can last several laps depending on the track. Normally, it is just accepted as part of modern NASCAR. But in a race as long as the Coca-Cola 600, the caution laps start adding up quickly.
The race already had four stages instead of the usual three, which naturally meant more stoppages and more laps spent under yellow.
Advertisement
While Hamlin does not ask for stage racing to be removed completely and move back to how racing was a decade ago. He suggests keeping the cautions shorter in length, and it is quite understandable, too. If the race had gone on, Hamlin could have ended up winning, but instead he had to settle for a finish in third place.
Hamlin hints he could have won the race if it were the complete 600 miles
Considering the Coca-Cola 600 is the longest race on the calendar, teams usually consider a number of strategic options before the race begins. And for Denny Hamlin, it was all about maintaining decent pace through the first three stages before pushing all out towards the end.
“We were really, really fast, and you know, all the cars had shots to win it at some point,” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver told the media after the race.
Advertisement
Hamlin started in 11th, but was already in the top five by the end of the first stage. He maintained his pace thereafter and was consistently in the mix for a win, which would have marked back-to-back victories for the veteran, who was coming off an All-Star Race win in Dover.
However, when Daniel Suarez clinched the lead in the final stage, Hamlin was left helpless as he struggled to chase him down with Bell in the middle. For the latter, the win seemed even more important, as he is yet to win a race this year. But this was the time for Hamlin to shine, as the team had strategized to make a strong run in the closing laps.
“We had planned all day for the last 50, like to get our car right for the last 50, and I just felt really confident that those last few restarts, like, I could really get some speed going. It just was a matter of like who could clear between me and the 20, and we couldn’t clear each other,” he added.
Hamlin still seemed to have a chance to pull off an overtake for the lead. However, the final caution came out a bit too early, which eventually led to the remainder of the race being called off. Suarez instead went on to win his first race of the season.
Advertisement
Trending Articles
The post “It’s All Hindsight”- Denny Hamlin Rips Into NASCAR Management After Loathed Gimmick Stole Charlotte Weekend appeared first on EssentiallySports. Add EssentiallySports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Read the full article here
