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The frustration was real for Denny Hamlin after what the Joe Gibbs Racing star believes was a missed NASCAR Cup Series opportunity at Richmond.
The 44-year-old superstar, who has four race wins in 2025, was high on the chances of another victory early in the Cook Out 400, lamenting afterwards: “My car had everything it needed to dominate the race.”
Things would unravel in a big way for the 44-year-old, however, as a miserable day on pit road for his team led to an eventual 10th-place finish. Austin Dillon claimed the win to lock up a playoff berth.
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‘A missed race’ for Hamlin
Everything that possibly could go wrong, did go wrong, and Hamlin admitted: “Yeah, just kind of a missed race. We were really bad on the pit lane. I sped. Team had a lot of bad stops, and this track – you can’t give up track position, and we did.
“I thought we were fortunate to get back to the top 10 there. The only reason we did is that we had a fast Camry.”
Hamlin himself was penalized for an infraction on pit road as he was flagged for speeding, giving him an even more uphill battle in the No. 11 Toyota.
Speaking later on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin explained what had happened and the frustration he felt being hit with the punishment with a race-winning car underneath him.
“Well, what happened more than likely was that I left my pit stall, didn’t go all the way out to the right. When you cut the inside of the track a little shorter, your distance is shorter. So even if you run the same amount of lights and RPMs, your speed will show faster.
“So 45 mph on the very outside, versus 45 mph on the inside…while you’re still under the speed limit…it changes the time, and it will register a faster mile per hour the lower you are.
“I certainly was so frustrated because I knew right off the bat we had a race-winning car.”
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