Denny Hamlin’s Chivlary Shut down by Crew Chief Amidst Veiled Dig at Richard Childress Notorious Star’s “Courtesy”

After bagging the stage 1 win for the AdventHealth 400 race at Kansas Speedway, Denny Hamlin has lost his lead coming off the pit road. Hamlin not only lost the lead but he is now down to seven spots from the lead driver. The #11 was impeded by Austin Hill’s #30 car while exiting the pit road. Hamlin had all the right to be mad at the upcoming RCR star but rather blamed himself for the incident.

Hamin was heard saying this via his radio, “That’s partially on me for going long.” However, his crew chief, Chris Gabehart, was frustrated with Hill’s antics on the pit road. He replied, “We always got to be better but, you know, it would be nice to have a little courtesy… you were clear by about 8 inches.” Gabehart’s frustration was justified as, coming on the pit road, Hamlin had a clear advantage over his rivals, Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson.

The #11 pit crew has been on their A-game this season, but Hill’s intervention on the pit road might just prove costly for the JGR star. Among the ruckus, it was Ross Chastain  who took advantage of the opportunity and got himself into the lead, and Christopher Bell gained three position, starting second.

Denny Hamlin’s effort just fell short at Kansas

Being out of contention for the lead with the pit road incident, Hamlin and his team were looking for a window of opportunity to gain their momentum back. And they got exactly that. With yellow fever catching up with the start of the final stage, the #11 team decided to split the stage and pit for fuel and tires. It was a huge gamble, but it worked out for them in the end.

But there was a catch. Even though Hamlin got the lead when the whole field recycled, he had to save on fuel while also keeping his rivals at bay. He was almost running on empty late in the race, with final few laps to go ,Kyle Busch’s spin flagged the caution and set up an overtime finish for the race. Gabehart called the shot to just go with two tire changes to keep the lead on the restart.

However, the likes of Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher, who were in the running, were just too hot to handle for the JGR star. As soon as the race went back green, Hamlin lost his command to his opponents and stepped off the gas. While a win at Kansas would be a huge result for the #11 JGR team, but a top 5 finish certainly adds more points to his name in the standings.

A better call on his starting position and how he could have kept Larson at bay. Sharing his thoughts on the final restart, Hamlin in a post-race interview, said. “Anyway, in hindsight, I would restart on the outside knowing that the 5 was going to split us to first chance he got to go for win. Once he did it killed all the momentum. You get drag going from both sides of the car and I was a parachute. Had a view of a great finish.”

This certainly was a good result in the end for Hamlin and his team, considering the troubles they had on the pit road earlier in the race. Perhaps a better pit stall selection could fare them well in the next race at Darlington.