When Denny Hamlin Had to Go to Hospital to Remove a Piece of Metal From His Eye

In sports, there will always be occasions where the athletes get injured either while playing or away from their field. In a fast-paced sport like racing, the risk of an injury is higher. However, there are times when the racers compete even with an injury, though if it gets too serious, they pull out. Such was the case for Denny Hamlin in 2014 when he supposedly had a sinus infection.

However, the problem turned out to be much more serious for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. As it turned out, a small piece of metal was found in his eye, so he was forced to miss the race at California. At the Auto Club Speedway, the doctors did not clear Hamlin to race, when he complained of irritation in his eye.

According to the team, as soon as the metal piece was removed, Hamlin felt an immediate improvement.

READ MORE: When Denny Hamlin Competed for the 2015 Cup Series Championship Despite a Torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament

Unfortunately, it was too late for him to compete in the race. So, Sam Hornish Jr deputized for him in the #11 Toyota. To be on the safe side, Denny Hamlin underwent further testing before returning home to North Carolina.

What happened to Denny Hamlin afterwards?

Following further evaluations, the driver got the green light to compete at the Martinsville Speedway. It is also worth mentioning that Hamlin’s diagnosis revelation only came about thanks to Dale Earnhardt Jr. The then Hendrick Motorsports driver called on NASCAR to release information about Hamlin’s inability to race at California.

He said, “I’m worried the perception is bad for NASCAR and the perception is bad for Denny. If Denny didn’t race because his vision is blurred and he had a sinus infection, NASCAR should put out a release and say, ‘This is the timeline of the events and this is why we made this choice and this is the protocol for going forward’.”

“That answers everybody’s questions. Don’t you have questions? I have questions. We shouldn’t have questions. We should all feel pretty comfortable with what happened.”

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Earnhardt could sympathize because he missed two 2012 races after suffering a second concussion in the span of six weeks. Apparently, he got a concussion while testing at Kansas Speedway. Surprisingly, he was given a clean bill of health and NASCAR only discovered their error after he wrecked at Talladega.