The Cup race in Sonoma was not as eventful as many had expected it to be. While Martin Truex Jr brought his usual form to the raceway and won it for a fourth time, it was curtains for his teammate Denny Hamlin. This is despite the fact that Joe Gibbs Racing‘s #11 Toyota was the fastest in qualifying and Hamlin led the first 32 laps after taking the pole.

However, An unfortunate contact combined with some inattentive driving by Hamlin took him out of the race. Another exciting event at Sonoma was the penalty on 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick for going outside the designated vehicle course. One of the more bizarre things about this incident is the mannerism of the violation. Hamlin also discussed the same on yesterday’s episode of his podcast—Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin.

I never saw him all day: Denny Hamlin on Tyler Reddick’s race at Sonoma

Hamlin had an eye out for Reddick. After bettering Reddick by eleven-hundredths of a second in the qualifying, Hamlin has high hopes for Reddick. The duo started on the grid’s front row, battling it out until a strange event occurred.

Acknowledging Truex’s experience, Hamlin’s co-host Jarred Allen mentioned that it was Tyler Reddick who is supposed to be setting the benchmark for Toyota in road courses. Hamlin replied, “Yeah, I mean, I thought Tyler would have a better week for sure. I mean, I’m sitting here and thinking on the first lap I’m like Oh god, I just hope I get out in front of him and at least set my own pace. But I never saw him all day. I was looking on the pile on as you’re going up to turn 11 there and to turn 1.

“The pile-on is right in front of you so I’m checking to see who’s running second, third, fourth, and just … I don’t know I haven’t dissected this day and you know got the team meeting here shortly but yeah he wasn’t that strong. He wasn’t that strong in practice either.

“It’s not like COTA where if you look the times, it was like man he’s the guy to beat. No question. And then he’d qualify on the front row and you’re like he’s gonna be tough.”

However, as Hamlin talked further, more light was thrown on Reddick’s sub-par performance.

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Tyler Reddick’s weird penalty surprised the bossman Hamlin

Reddick has been in good form this season. With a win at COTA in March, the #45 driver has already (almost) sealed a place in the playoffs. However, he finished 33rd in Sonoma after a surprising penalty was levied on him. During the podcast, Hamlin also talked about the surprising news of a track limit penalty on Reddick. He said,

“But yeah I’m not really sure what it was or where they got derailed. Again, when I was in the care center, I saw they put Tyler Reddick’s car on TV and it says, ‘track limits.’ He has a track limit penalty.

“And I’m like where in the hell could he have track limit? I mean did he go through the dirt and cut a corner or what.

“I didn’t realize he cut a whole lap off! He’s like, ‘No I didn’t do that corner well, let me do that again.’ When he went back to the pits he had a flat tire. But certainly not the day there were hoping for.” 

Meanwhile, despite Hamlin and Reddick’s underwhelming finishes, the Toyota camp has fared better than last year in Sonoma, with a win and another top-10 finish (Christopher Bell). Last season, none of the Toyota drivers could secure a top-15 finish there.

Read More: Denny Hamlin Demands a Major Sonoma Change Detrimental to the Next Gen Cars After Uncharacteristic Disaster