NSCS: Denny Hamlin ‘wasn’t letting off’ in late-race move

A late wreck crushed the race for drivers at Kansas Speedway for the GoBowling 400 this past weekend.

It started on the restart after caution with 26 laps to go. Denny Hamlin would make it three-wide when he squeezed between Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski. They were all so close, the air would suck both Keselowski and Hamlin. Keselowski was the luckiest as he would just go for a simple spin. Unfortunatly Hamlin backed it in the wall, as he did he collected Joey Logano. In the processes Larson also hit the wall.

Hamlin, Logano and Larson would all finish deep in the field after the incident. Logano, who started in the 14th position, would finish in 38th at the end of the race.

“It just looked like the No.2 got loose and then the No. 11 got loose,” said Logano. “I hit the wall, so I knew where that was and I just kept riding and riding and hoping the 11 would come down the hill because I couldn’t see and he stayed up there and I got him right in the door.

“It’s unfortunate. Our AAA Fusion was good. We made some good changes on it and actually made it to where I thought it was a possible winning car with all the circumstances going right and with those restarts the way they were, maybe we would have been able to capitalize. It’s just racing. Things happen sometimes.”

Hamlin would start the race in third position and wound end up finishing 37th when the race ended.

“I was going in there three-wide,” he said. “I wasn’t letting off and the No. 42 (Larson) was just too close up there. It wasn’t his fault by any means, but we were both trying to drive in there to clear each other and I just got loose and I mean that’s crazy there was no contact, but both me and the No.2 (Keselowski) got loose there.

“I was just going for it. I’ve got the win and that’s part of this format is going for it and that’s what we did.”

Larson would finish in 35th, while Keselowski would battle back to get a top-10 finish at the end of the race.

“Kyle did what he had to do,” he said. “He put a little block on and I still got underneath him, but the little bloc kind of opened up the run for the No. 11 car from behind and he put it in there and it just spun all of us out. That’s part of it, I guess.

“I am disappointed, but I don’t think there was anything malicious. We’re just all racing for wins and that was everybody’s shot to win the race. It was an up and down day for us. The ups were when we were up front and battling for second, and the downs were spinning out and going to the back then back up again with the dozen or so laps we had at the end.”

Next up is the AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway on Sunday May15th.