Denny Hamlin Exposes 19-Year-Old NASCAR Loophole

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season was one of the most fascinating seasons where fans got a chance to witness some aggressive and competitive races. Moreover, alongside 19 different race winners in a single season, the championship also saw a one-of-a-kind wall-riding video game move that people are going to remember for ages. However, according to Denny Hamlin, probably everything was not as good as it seems.

During an episode of his podcast Actions Detrimental, 23 XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin discussed that he needs to know more about the green flag pass statistics for the Next Gen car. Moreover, he shared that he hasn’t seen those numbers for a long time.

“We used to really talk about all the green flag passes that the Cup Series had. I haven’t heard anyone say that in the Next Gen era. Is someone hiding those stats because they used to really boast on? ‘We got the most green flag passes we’ve ever had in history.’ I ain’t heard that in a long, long time. And certainly, I’d love to see the green flag passes for the lead stat. Because it can’t be good.”

For anyone wondering, a green flag pass essentially means passing any car under green flag conditions.

Denny Hamlin points out a loophole as NASCAR official shares stats publically 

After a clip from Denny Hamlin’s podcast was featured on its official Twitter page, Mike Forde, a Racing Communications official for NASCAR, revealed that there was an entire press release on the green flag passes available on the governing body’s official website. And surprisingly, the numbers were not just good, but great! According to the press release, the 2022 season saw 1544 green flag passes for the lead – the most ever in NASCAR history.

However, thankful for the response, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver questioned how the race authorities arrived at the statistics as the numbers appear to be astounding. He asked, “How do we get to that number. If I’m leading and I pit and fall back to 24th on a GREEN flag stop, after everyone puts and I cycle back to the lead did you just credit me with 23 passes when in fact I passed no one?”

To this, Forde replied, “It’s all based on loops around the track. If the 11’s transponder moves ahead of another car’s from one loop to the next, you get credited with a pass. If you improve position during green flag pit stops, yes, your passing number increases.”

Hamlin then again asked, “Seems as though while that is credited as a “pass” one car in fact did NOT over take the other. Correct?” 

This led the NASCAR official to reveal, “Correct, not an on-track overtake. Been that way since 2004. Could prob adjust calculation (and definition), but decided to keep it consistent for YOY comps.”

Surprised by Forde’s explanation of the same, Hamlin pointed out the loophole due to which the numbers look dramatically better on the sheet but are not at all good in reality.

All in all, it does seem like a loophole that NASCAR created to have better stats to show on paper.

READ MORE: Denny Hamlin Throws Shade at Common Enemy in Side-Splitting Story About Epic Racing Mishap With Right Hand Man

NASCAR fans react to the green flag passes press release

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As soon as the NASCAR official explained the process of calculating the green flag passes at the lead, many fans agreed that the numbers seemed skewed. Sharing their views on it, many Twitter users wrote,

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