KANSAS CITY – Martinsville (Va.) Speedway NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winner Denny Hamlin had a rough go in the late laps of Saturday night’s SpongeBob SquarePants 400.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver found himself in the middle of a four-wide battle off Turn 2 and was pinched between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Sam Hornish Jr. Close quarters racing saw contact with the left rear of Hornish’s No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Fusion cut Hamlin’s right front tire and caused Hamlin to abruptly slow on the track.
Still under green and with a conveyor belt of cars circling Kansas Speedway, Hamlin was unable to make the trip to pit road initially and had to stumble for another lap before receiving service.
Returning to the race, the Chesterfield, Virginia driver saw his night worsen on Lap 207 when he cut another tire off Turn 4 and slid down the frontstretch before hitting the outside wall.
The 34-year old driver was able to steer his No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry to the garage, although he was vocal about not being too pleased with NASCAR’s timing on displaying the caution.
Hamlin criticized why NASCAR didn’t warrant a caution for the initial contact between Earnhardt and Hornish and then lagged on waiving the yellow when cars were driving by at full speed when he was wrecking on the track.
“There was no caution there (on the first incident) and then we cut a left rear, blew it off of turn four and spun out, hit the wall at the start finish line,” Hamlin said in an interview on FOX Sports 1. “I keep spinning out, I keep hitting the wall and I can’t figure out why everyone is still coming at 200 (miles per hour) and I look and the green light is still on.
“They didn’t throw a caution until seven seconds after I wrecked. Luckily nobody hit us. They’ll continue to monitor the situation, I’m guessing is what they’ll say.”
Although more calm in his television interview, Hamlin didn’t hold back on his team radio, sounding off with several expletive remarks.
Saturday marked the second straight weekend where NASCAR has been called out by a Joe Gibbs Racing competitor about the delay in displaying a caution.
Teammate Carl Edwards was displeased when he crashed in the final lap of the Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on May 3 when other drivers failed to lift after spinning in Turn 1.
Edwards met with NASCAR officials to discuss his concern on Friday morning at Kansas Speedway.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
