Denny Hamlin Unravels How Tony Stewart’s Rookie Wrecking Derailed Rivals’ WWTR Strategy

During the NASCAR Cup race at the World Wide Technology Raceway, Denny Hamlin noted that strategy played a huge role. As the laps ticked by, a handful of drivers were caught out by the track, which triggered a few cautions. One such unscheduled caution came at the hands of Stewart-Haas Racing driver Josh Berry. He became one of two retirees on Sunday, with Kyle Busch being the other one.

It all started when the #4 driver’s tire blew up and sent him uncontrollably into the wall. Unfortunately, it meant that his car was totaled, and unable to continue. Now, a caution period in NASCAR brings with it an opportunity for a free pit stop. So when Berry brought it out, many drivers took the chance to change their strategies.

Denny Hamlin reflected on the impact of the caution

In the buildup to every race, teams will always have a game plan and stick to it. However, not every race will ever go according to plan, and teams have to adapt on the fly to get the best position possible. Denny Hamlin knows this very well, and he said on his podcast, “Yeah, this mixed things up for sure. This was the point where we were up towards, I don’t know. We were right with Larson, we were about to pass Larson. So we went back to the back because others had pit earlier. End of the stage, we pit, others flip it. So then we start towards the back. Make our way towards the front, another caution comes really short. He’s like, ‘Well all the other guys in front of us are gonna pit’. This is when the caution caught and we were the last car to lead the lap. I’m really confused about where that was at, but I just feel – this was early on – and then I remember I had to battle back towards the Top 10. We were the last car – we had gotten our lap back, the caution came out – we were the last car on the lead lap.”

One thing was for sure: the whole pack was jumbled up, with some drivers gambling. Hamlin was among those to take to the pits, and this really confused him. Especially since there were Playoff points up for grabs, but his crew chief was thinking of the bigger picture. As a result, he did not stay out and bag free stage points, but pitted and rejoined near the back. It was too late now, so he had to grin, bear it, and then charge from the back.

The Joe Gibbs Racing star had former teammate Kyle Busch to thank

Hamlin continued, “I thought we were going to stay out and get stage points. We would have been right where the #5 was. I think he restarted 2nd or 3rd or something like that. He’s like, ‘No, I want you to pit’. I’m like, ‘Hmm… I thought for sure we’d try to get some stage points then pit again later on. Since there were only 17 cars on the lead lap’. He had me pit there then we got back to the Top 10 after the Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson wreck. It all kind of worked out, split thing, we probably could have made either one work. Still, it kind of netted out good for us in the end. It flipped the field a little bit. In the end, you still had the best cars up towards the front.”

Once Busch and Larson had their coming together, another unscheduled caution was triggered. From there, the #11 crew adapted their strategy again, and this time it worked in their favor. Eventually, the 43-year-old ended the day in a fine 2nd place, benefiting from Ryan Blaney’s heartbreak. Denny Hamlin was a bit too far from race winner Austin Cindric, but second was more than enough for him.