NASCAR’s high-speed drama is not limited to the track alone. In a recent episode of his podcast, Denny Hamlin gave fans an inside look into a heart-stopping moment he experienced during a crucial pit stop at Watkins Glen. The fine line between success and penalty became all too real for Joe Gibbs Racing’s star driver.

Hamlin started the race at Watkins Glen from the pole position. But he quickly found himself in 3rd position behind Michael McDowell and William Byron. Naturally, he had to rely on a quick pit stop if he had any chance of letting them not run away with the race. And that’s exactly what his team gave him.

Exiting the pit lane after the first stop, Hamlin found himself alongside McDowell, but Denny Hamlin soon realized that he could be in for a big trouble due to a mistake he made exiting the pit lane.

Denny Hamlin was praying to not get the dreaded message from his crew chief

The intricacies of NASCAR’s pit lane strategy came to the forefront as Hamlin recounted the critical pit stop at Watkins Glen. Amidst the intense competition, a common racing habit almost spelled trouble for Denny Hamlin. A shift to second gear, a norm among drivers after leaving their pit box, turned into a near-fatal error.

Realizing the need to be in first gear to adhere to a lower speed limit, Hamlin hit the brakes in a panic-inducing moment. With his crew chief Chris Gabehart in mind, Hamlin’s heart raced as he navigated the course, hoping to avoid a potential penalty that could have cost him dearly.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver shed light on the heart-stopping moment on his podcast. When asked if he was looking at a potential strategy move to retake his position on McDowell, he explained, “Well, I never count my team out, Chris Gabehart, Sam, Ryan, guys at the work. They’re really good with strategy, and they find a way… So I knew, just as long as I kept them somewhat in front of me, we were gonna have a chance. I can leap-frog them on a pit stop, something like that. And you saw the one pit stop. Me and McDowell came out side by side. But he got the penalty.”

He then explained his mistake on the pit exit. “Oh, that one, I was sweating bullets. As a driver, you know when you are close to the edge on pit road. I was running first gear, everyone ran first gear on pit road. The habit of us is to shift to 2nd gear, so I’ll leave my pit box and I shift [to 2nd] and I am like, I need to be in first. I downshift to first and I see I am full red, which means I am way over the speed limit. And I immediately just jacked the brake cuz I am like wherever I am at, hopefully, I am right in the middle of the timing zone, and I am not having already crossed one.”

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“I am knowing my crew chief was going to kill me, KILL ME… If I have a penalty here,” he added. “Please don’t say it, and you know usually about 15 seconds after you leave pit lane. If they don’t call it by then, you’re in the clear. And I pull out and I just, I don’t even remember going through the next few corners because I am just waiting on Chris to key the mic. The first moment that I heard the mic keyed, you don’t understand, my heart, it drops, because I know that I have sped, and it’s just like. ‘Alright, you’re gonna be racing the 5 here’ and I was just like, ‘Huh! Thank god! I must have just timed it perfectly!'”

The race track can be unforgiving, but so can the rulebook. Denny Hamlin’s journey this season has had its share of setbacks, including a penalty that still lingers in his mind. Who knows his heart-sinking reaction could be an involuntary return to the Phoenix incident.

NASCAR humbles Hamlin as he remains haunted by the 25-point penalty

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Hamlin’s memory is vividly etched with the weight of a 25-point penalty imposed by NASCAR. The controversy stemmed from a collision with Ross Chastain at Phoenix, a move Hamlin openly admitted to being intentional on his podcast. The 39-point gap behind his JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr could have been significantly narrower if not for those deducted points.

In a trackside post-race interview at Watkins Glen, Hamlin brought up his penalty when asked if he can still win the regular-season championship. “I mean, it’s doable. You’ve got to have things go your way. But yeah, if we can talk NASCAR into those 25 points they took away earlier in the season. We’d really make it interesting.”

As the NASCAR season hurtles toward its finale, Hamlin’s experiences serve as a testament to the fine margins of the sport. Share your predictions for the final playoff contender at Daytona in the comments below.

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