‘It Never Stopped’- New Evidence on Denny Hamlin’s Mysterious Darlington Loss Comes to Light

Every NASCAR fan has been talking about Denny Hamlin ever since news of his contract termination with Joe Gibbs Racing came into the spotlight. However, now that they’ve settled it, Hamlin is looking forward to several more years of racing with the Cup Series team. Despite having a fast car at the Southern 500, the JGR driver faced difficulties in his #11 Toyota. Moments after the race, he shed light on what happened.

Despite showing great speed, Hamlin’s night turned topsy-turvy following a mysterious reason. His crew chief, Chris Gabehart, joined in to agree with Hamlin on what the latter might have experienced in his left rear wheel. Hamlin talked about the same in the pre-race press conference at Kansas.

‘That’s the most sensitive corner’ – 23XI owner reveals the truth behind his dull Darlington outing

Hamlin was leading the race when he committed to the pit road for a green flag pit stop in the initial laps of the second stage. It looked like a seamless stop for the number 11 Toyota Camry. However, Denny Hamlin reported he felt like the wheel was loose. This forced the 42-year-old driver to drive back to the pit road on lap 273. In doing so, he lost several valuable positions in the race.

Because of the left rear wheel folly, Denny Hamlin dropped back to a 25th-place finish. This was despite leading a whopping 177 laps of the 367-lap-long race. Chris Gabehart decided to trust the driver’s instinct and called him back to the pit road. After all, it is not always what it looks like and the left side of the car is a lot more sensitive than the right one because of the pressure that it feels all the time. Indeed, a driver who has won 50 of these races would not just say something is wrong if it was not actually wrong.

Denny Hamlin said, “You know, the socket is turning, turning, turning. When it comes off, it never stopped. So the left rear is one of the most sensitive corners. Usually, if it was left front. Probably could have got away with. It’s just the way that track works. That’s the most sensitive corner in the car.”

“It wasn’t all the way tight. You’re gonna feel it dramatically and it would continue to back off until it got to that safety clip. But by then I would have damaged the HUB so bad that I wouldn’t have been able to get a tire on,” he added.

Read more: Denny Hamlin Disappointed by Bubba Wallace Dropping the Ball at Michigan

Unfortunately, one cannot win it all. Denny Hamlin won his Xfinity Series race at Darlington on Saturday, but Sunday was probably not his day. Although the tire might have felt loose, the relationship between the #11 icon and Joe Gibbs seems to be tighter than ever. Moving into Kansas, Denny Hamlin opened up about his Cup team’s alliance with Joe Gibbs.

Denny Hamlin posits his team’s partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing as an example for every other alliance out there

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In an episode of Actions Detrimental, co-host Jared Allen asked how the relationship between JGR and 23XI had grown since Denny Hamlin started the team in a 5-year plan. He was also curious about the future of the Jordan-Hamlin team.

Hamlin praised the 23XI sales team for their exceptional work in getting things going, despite the heavy reliance on sponsorships for the future of Cup teams. He also emphasized the one aspect that sets their alliance apart from others.

He said, “One thing I noticed is that with 23XI and JGR, it is a true alliance. Before us, JGR gets paid a service fee, and essentially is really helping out smaller teams get the information they need to compete.”

“This is working well both ways. There is things that, no question, JGR is learning from 23XI and we also learn a ton from them. So that’s the way an alliance should work; both teams can feed off of each other,” he added.

Definitely a strong bond they have there, don’t you think? And the alliance with JGR is paying off, it seems. For the first time in 3 years, 23XI Racing has both their cars in the playoff rumble. We hope that in the years to come, this NASCAR superstar achieves even greater heights with Joe Gibbs Racing and so does his Cup Series team.

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