The Brickyard 400 was a tale of cautions and last-lap drama. The woes of the Next Gen car and the tough return to the 2.5-mile rectangular oval drooped some drivers’ faces. But the man fuming the most after Sunday’s race result was Ryan Blaney. He saw his crown jewel dream slip through his fingers when Kyle Larson made a controversial move on him. Even Denny Hamlin took one side recently.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who got involved in a crippling crash himself, upheld Blaney’s complaint. NASCAR’s late-race calls are to blame for this, as they favored Larson’s progress. Although the executives cleared up the confusion soon after the race, Hamlin is just not convinced.

Denny Hamlin thinks a fairer stance was possible

When Kyle Larson raged through the ranks in the last few laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Ryan Blaney barely suspected he would be a threat. The Team Penske driver was capitalizing on Brad Keselowski’s impending doom as his gas was about to run out. But Larson had the upper hand – he pitted on lap 123, later than everybody else. So fuel saving needs did not stagger his speed. When Keselowski finally ran out and a multi-wreck caution was called, Larson sped up ahead of Blaney.

Yet NASCAR accepted his advance despite the controversial restart jump. And Blaney was furious, calling out the executives for their favoritism. On a recent episode of ‘Actions Detrimental’, Denny Hamlin also agreed with Blaney. He also mentioned how NASCAR delaying a caution after Ryan Preece spun on the last lap was debatable. “Some of the calls I thought were just super questionable when it comes to whether they did the caution in the end or not.” The veteran further empathized Blaney’s stressful situation. “I think probably Blaney was just in a tough spot. The outside lane just does not work. It didn’t matter if he just cleared them by all but two inches. The bottom was gonna be so significant and faster. The 12 was done when the 5 slid it up there.”

The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team likely predicted the situation accurately. Denny Hamlin figured the crew chief knew how to take advantage of Keselowski’s fuel misery. “The most likely scenario is that the 6 if he didn’t run out, he was gonna run out at the track, bottom at the 5 up, and cause a huge crash. The 5 was likely gonna be in it…I think they asked. That was a very heads-up position for Cliff Daniels as he asked the officials that, ‘Hey, FYI, if they do run out, we can’t pull out before the start/finish line, right?’ So they were on it right from the get-go ’cause they knew that the 6 was in dire straits.”

Denny Hamlin’s verdict was clear about NASCAR’s ruling – they clearly had a soft corner for Kyle Larson. “I don’t know. It might be a situation where NASCAR’s happy with how this whole thing played out.” The JGR driver suggested a better way to judge the lightning-fast scenario that unfolded on the final laps of the Brickyard 400. “I think in that situation…maybe we just let the leader, let the lone car on the front row stay there – no sliding up. Maybe that’s more fair, right? That seems like a more reasonable thing, ’cause it definitely changed the outcome of this race.”

Yet ironically, this is the exact reason why Denny Hamlin was criticized earlier this year in Richmond. At that point in time, NASCAR did not really adopt a ‘fair’ stance towards him.

Hamlin was in the same soup 

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As we harp on the Brickyard 400 controversial finish, it also evokes a recent memory. The Toyota Owners 400 was slated to be a glorious story for Martin Truex Jr, who led the most (228 out of 400) laps. But Denny Hamlin got away with an early restart and ultimately soared to victory”.

Although a clear violation of the rulebook, NASCAR overlooked the infringement for a vague reason.“There’s no doubt [Denny Hamlin] rolled early. It’s a bang-bang call, it’s at the end of the race. We’re a live sporting event. We don’t have the luxury of a timeout, and go to the sidelines, and review it, and make that call. If this happens at Lap 10 or 50 or 300, the call could have been different. If I’m a competitor, I wouldn’t be playing that game every week,” said NASCAR’s VP of Competition, Elton Sawyer, defending the decision.

And Michael McDowell also harped on the restart rule, uncannily resembling Hamlin’s opinion about Larson’s win at the Brickyard 400. “If you’re the leader, you should have the advantage under every circumstance. There should never be a situation where the leader doesn’t have the advantage on a restart…You watch Formula One, they restart where they want to. Watch IndyCar, they restart where they want to. The leader (has) earned the right to control the race. In our situation, it’s not. It’s entertainment that we’ve got to be two- and three-wide and put on a show at the end of it. Because of that, not the best car wins.”

To add insult to injury, later Denny Hamlin also admitted how jumping restarts was something every driver had taken “advantage of over the last billion years”.

Evidently, Denny Hamlin’s words contradict his own actions in Richmond this year. Yet it is still a very gray area in the NASCAR rulebook, as Ryan Blaney himself admitted post-race.