BROOKLYN, Mich: Convincingly Denny Hamlin probably had the best car in the closing laps of Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, but after suffering his 31st pit road penalty of the season – Hamlin ran out of laps in a brilliant late-race recovery.
Entering Sunday’s race, the Toyotas appeared to be the manufacturer to beat.
With his team’s Toyota on the pole with driver Bubba Wallace and his two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch starting second and third respectively, Hamlin had quickly hope to make work of a ninth-place qualifying effort and put himself in the hunt for his third win of 2022.
Finishing second to Bell at the end of Stage 1, Hamlin led the Joe Gibbs Racing train by winning Stage 2.
Restarting Stage 3 in 14th at Lap 127, Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry rocket was able to maneuver back inside the top-five 24 laps later and take third from Bell on Lap 151.
Six laps later, Hamlin inherited the lead again as the two Trackhouse Racing cars of Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez pitted on Lap 157.
A lap later, the final caution waved on Lap 158 when Bell and Chastain tangled which kept Hamlin in the lead and in control of the race entering his final pit stop.
Hamlin though would suffer two penalties during his final pit stop for a safety violation and too many crew members over the wall.
The safety violation occurred when a tire got loose from Hamlin’s pit box and rolled into another pit box and despite the pit box being empty, a crew member stepped into the box to retrieve the tire which exceeded the maximum number of pit crew members allowed during a pit stop.
Despite crew chief Chris Gabehart’s best effort to try and get NASCAR to rescind the penalty, his efforts were left in vain – and Hamlin restarted the race outside the top-20.
Over the final 35 laps of the race and without the benefit of a caution, Hamlin was able to march his way back inside the top-five and hunting down Wallace for second when he ran out of laps and settled for third behind race winner Kevin Harvick and Wallace.
“It’s just frustrating,” offered Hamlin after the race. “We’ve had really fast cars throughout the year and Dover comes to mind and Pocono comes to mind and this race comes to mind and a bunch of others. Just cant get a W(in) in the column.
“Hats off to Joe Gibbs Racing for giving me a car that fast and my team for setting it up really good. This is a piece of the puzzle you have to have to win races. Everyone has to do their job to the best of their ability and we just are lacking in one little section of our team that we just can’t hem up.”
With the Cup Series Playoffs approaching in less than a month, Hamlin did not have any quick thoughts on how to solve the issues of his team’s mistakes, but he was more than assertive that the issue needs to be corrected and soon.
“I’m not sure,” Hamlin explained. “I’m not really sure how you fix it. I’m not smart enough to run the department to fix it. I just hope that we make strides and keep getting better. It’s just frustrating when you have fast cars like our Toyotas did this weekend, there’s just absolutely no excuse for not winning.
“We’re the ones that have to look each other in the face on Monday and figure out how we just keep doing this. Hopefully we can make it constructive and continue to get better, but obviously it’s disappointing.”
If there was any consolation for Hamlin, his 23XI Racing team enjoyed a successful weekend in the Irish Hills.
Wallace won his first career pole, led twice for 22 laps and finished second and Xfinity Series standout Ty Gibbs in just his third Cup Series start notched a top-10 finish in a substituting role for Kurt Busch who was sidelined for the third consecutive race after suffering a concussion at Pocono Raceway last month.
“Just great job all weekend,” smiled Hamlin talking about the team he co-owns with NBA legend Michael Jordan. “He (Bubba Wallace) did a great job and Ty (Gibbs) did a great job. The whole 23XI team just did a phenomenal job from beginning to end and they gave him a rocket. T
“his was a well put together weekend for all of them. It’s Dave Rogers, it’s Mike Wheeler, it’s Billy Scott helping setup both of these cars. It’s just a lot of puzzle pieces that those guys are starting to do right and have good results.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
