NASCAR responds to claims from Martin Truex Jr that Denny Hamlin jumped the final restart in overtime at Richmond Raceway
NASCAR Cup Series drivers raced at Richmond Raceway on Sunday night. The race was sent into an overtime finish after Kyle Larson was sent spinning with just two laps to go.
Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson conversate after Richmond (Video)
NASCAR has a restart zone at each race track. The leader of the race must accelerate between the beginning or end of that zone.
On the restart in NASCAR overtime, Hamlin was seen rolling quicker to the restart line. By the time he stepped in the gas, he had a car length on Martin Truex Jr to his outside.
When they went into turn one, Truex Jr pinched Hamlin down. With the narrow entry, Hamlin ran Truex Jr wide as they exited turn two.
Truex Jr was heated about both of those things. And after the race, he ran up to the bumper of his teammate and ran into the back of him to show he was angry.
Martin Truex Jr runs into Hamlin and Larson after Richmond (Video)
“Definitely rolled before the line,” Kevin Harvick stated.
“I’ll tell you what he did, he won,” Clint Bowyer added.
Martin Truex Jr claims Denny Hamlin jumped the restart
“Just got beat out of the pits,” Martin Truex Jr told Fox Sports after the race.
“[Hamlin] jumped the start and then just used me up in turn one. So, I don’t know. Definitely sucks but a good solid day.”
Martin Truex Jr runs into Hamlin and Larson after Richmond (Video)
Denny Hamlin says he didn’t jump the start
“I went, right at it, for sure,” Denny Hamlin stated from the media center.
“I did that because I saw those guys rolling to me. The No. 22 was laying back and the No. 19 was rolling a couple miles per hour quicker than I was.”
“So, I wasn’t going to let them have an advantage that my team earned on pit road. Once my nose got there, I took off, right away.”
“Still we were side by side and down in the water into turn one.”
“I went pretty early in the zone,” Hamlin added via his Actions Detrimental podcast.
“When I’m restarting the race, I’m not looking at the flagman, my dash, I’m not looking at anything. All I’m looking at is my mirror and my side peripheral.”
“When I see him starting to creep, I take off. So, I don’t see where I’m at in the zone.”
“I concede that it is a few feet early. I don’t think that it’s ever been a hard line. Like, Josh [Wise] was talking about.”
“Many, many late race restarts have been fired really early. If you wait until you get to the zone, you lost all your advantage to the cars that are around you.”
“Because they know, he going to fire then. ‘Ok, I’m going to slow my speed down now and creep it up, so that way I’m running a couple miles an hour faster than him when I get to that zone.’ “
“I tried to negate the advantage that those guys were trying to get on me on that last restart.”
NASCAR comments on the overtime restart
“We reviewed that. We looked at it,” Elton Sawyer stated after the race.
“Obviously, the No. 11 was the control vehicle. It was awful close, but we deemed it to be a good restart.”
“They won the battle off pit road and put themselves in a position to control the restart,” Sayer added via Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
“There’s no doubt, he rolled early. We’re at the end of the race, it’s a live sporting event. We don’t have luxury of a timeout to go to the sideline and review it.”
“If this happens at lap 10 or 50 or 300, the call could have been different. If I’m a competitor, I wouldn’t be playing that game every week.”
“Sometimes you get the call that was in your favor.”
Richmond Results: March 31, 2024 (NASCAR Cup Series)
Joe Gibbs comments on Martin Truex Jr’s frustrations
Joe Gibbs is the car owner for Denny Hamlin as well as Martin Truex Jr. That makes him see things from both sides.
“Here’s what happens, these guys put so much into this,” Joe Gibbs stated in the media center after the race.
“They’re all great competitors and these things are so hard to win. When you have an experience, the way Martin did tonight.”
“When the No. 5 got in front of us on that pit stop. He got it right back. I mean, he drove his heart out.”
“Then to have a caution, it was devastating. That’s what I was trying to relate to everybody, you’re happy for Denny. But, then you see that in Martin and how hard he fought for this.”
“That’s part of our sport. It’s really hard. You really feel for them when they go through a night like Martin had this night.”
Video of the final restart at Richmond Raceway
Links
Martin Truex Jr | Denny Hamlin | Kyle Larson | Richmond Raceway | NASCAR
