Denny Hamlin reacted to comments from fellow NASCAR Cup Series competitor Alex Bowman, who described the finish of the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) race in Austin, Texas as “embarrassing.”
Denny Hamlin during Grid Walk at NASCAR Cup Series Race at COTA via Skewcar YouTube
In a post-race interview, Bowman discussed the end of the race that involved multiple attempts at NASCAR Overtime, “The problem is if you don’t peek out and bomb the guy in front of you, the guy behind you does it to you. So what do you do there? It’s not right.”
“The way we race is embarrassing and if twelve year-olds were doing it we’d be yelling at them, but here we are saying it’s the best thing in the world on TV,” Bowman asserted.
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Hamlin reacted to Bowman’s comments on his Actions Detrimental podcast where he offered a solution that NASCAR Overtime switches to single-file restarts compared to the traditional double-file restart.
Hamlin said, “Bowman afterwards called it an embarrassment. If you want to race clean you will get used up. I agree with that statement. I try my best not to be on this list of responsible for these wrecks, but honestly, I’m the one that gets the s**t end of the stick.”
After discussing an altercation with Kevin Harvick during the race at COTA, Hamlin asserted, “I personally think it’s a bad look. I think that — do we want our NASCAR fans — I’ve got a clock on my dash just to know [the] time of day for debriefing with my team and whatnot and when the track changed, but it shouldn’t take an hour to run the last two laps of the race, green flag laps of the race.”
He then suggested, “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say maybe we should explore single file restarts at the end.”
Denny Hamlin and Michael Waltrip during Grid Walk at NASCAR Cup Series Race at COTA via Skewcar YouTube
When questioned on when they should switch to single-file, Hamlin replied, “We can’t be trusted, clearly. We can’t be trusted. Kimi Räikkönen says, ‘It is stupid. We bumper cars. It’s ridiculous.’ That’s what he said. He’s like, ‘It’s not good.”
Hamlin then pointed to Jordan Taylor, “Jordan Taylor, I watched him. That guy hit everything but the lottery. Every car he got around he was laying into them. I didn’t see what happened earlier in the race, maybe he got used up and it’s like, ‘Oh fine, this is how y’all do this.’ But I know the nine car, for sure, and Jordan he ran into me so many times I finally was like, ‘Man, if I get back to him I’m just gonna have to move him out of the way as well. And so it’s just this is what we are doing nowadays. I don’t like it.”
“We thought that it was just an Indy road course problem. It’s not,” Hamlin declared. “It’s wherever we have a restart zone that is close. An extended distance from turn one where you’re coming into a stop.”
Denny Hamlin via Bob Pockrass Twitter
When his co-host pointed out that this doesn’t happen at Watkins Glen or Sonoma, Hamlin then suggested the restart zone be moved, “Well, let’s move the zone because maybe the zone needs to be between turn 19 and 20. So we can take off, slow down, and then go down the front straight away and not be all jamming in there.”
“That’s why I think single file might be the best resort,” he reiterated.
He later said, “I just think it taking an hour to run the last few laps is just ridiculous and how can we avoid? You have to help the drivers help themselves and that’s spreading us out a little bit.”
Denny Hamlin via NASCAR YouTube
Hamlin would also suggest a solution that Kyle Busch also recently suggested by sending drivers to the rear of the field that cause accidents. He said, “At what point does NASCAR make changes? They either can make changes by telling these guys that was unavoidable and you’re responsible and you’re going to the back. That would stop it. That would stop it.”
“Or you just say, ‘Okay, well, we don’t want to get into those balls and strikes calls. We’re just going to move the restart line to somewhere else,'” he offered.
Denny Hamlin via Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Dirty Mo Media YouTube
Busch previously suggested sending drivers to the rear much like local short track races do when asked for his opinion on NASCAR penalizing Hamlin for intentionally fencing Ross Chastain at Phoenix.
Busch said, “If you spin somebody out — and I’m guilty of it I’ve spun somebody out for the lead before or the win before or something like that on accident, racing — but if it happens then you get sent to the back; caution comes out you go to the back. There’s no repercussions for that right now. So that’s the old short track adage and how these kids learn when they’re growing up. Maybe we need to implement that here.”
He went on to double down on that saying, “For as hard as it is to pass and try to come back through the field at some of these places? Yea, I think that would. I think that would send a message. At least that’s a good starting point.”
What do you make of Hamlin’s reaction to Bowman’s comments and his suggestion to fix NASCAR Overtime at road courses like COTA and the Indianapolis Road Course?
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