KANSAS CITY, Kansas — Late in Saturday night’s Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway, Denny Hamlin went three-wide in a battle for second and triggered a wreck that eliminated himself and four contenders for the win – including both Team Penske teammates.
With 52 laps remaining, Hamlin, the Daytona 500 winner drove in between Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson – who were both vying for second place.
As the cars dove into Turn 4, Keselowski’s car seemed to get loose as Hamlin in the middle also appeared to get loose and slid up into Larson with Joey Logano piling up in the accident with nowhere to go.
“I was going for it and I wasn’t letting off,” Hamlin said after the incident. “The No. 42 (Larson) was just too close up there. We were trying to clear each other and I just got loose.
“It’s a shame. Our car was a fast car today.”
Damn. It didn’t work. Sorry to @KyleLarsonRacin and other guys that got in it. I was going for it and it just didn’t pan out.
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) May 8, 2016
Our @FedEx team gave me a great car. Once I stop making mistakes we will get back on track. Congrats @KyleBusch another @JoeGibbsRacing win
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) May 8, 2016
Before the incident, Hamlin, despite having a fast car found himself in salvage mode after being handed two speeding penalties on pit road. After 11 races, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has the most speeding penalties of any driver in the garage with six.
Logano still winless in 2016 chalked up the incident to just racing.
“It just looked like the 2 got loose and then the 11 got loose,” said Logano. “I was hoping the 11 would come down the hill and when you’re in the smoke you can’t see anything. 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.
“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.”
The incident ruined one of the best races of the season for Larson who settled for a disappointing 35th. While Logano and Hamlin ended their night in the garage, Keselowski was able to rebound and finish 10th, six days after winning the GEICO 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
“I’m disappointed, but I don’t think there was anything malicious,” said Keselowski after the race. “We’re just all racing for wins and that was everybody’s shot to win the race.”
Watch the crash in Saturday’s Go Bowling 400 Here
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
