Denny Hamlin: Questionable caution for Kyle Busch incident changed strategy for several teams

NASCAR star Denny Hamlin is opening up about an incident that happened with Kyle Busch at the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on Sunday. On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin, who won Sunday’s race, said the move changed the strategy for many teams. He also explained why Busch was hit with a caution flag after hitting the wall but kept going.

“The interesting thing with Richmond is the cycle was 40 laps wide. You had cars pitting at so many various times, that it wasn’t really a defined green-flag cycle,” Hamlin said. “There was no cycle really defined. It wasn’t a fuel thing. People were pitting when they thought it was best for them to pit whether it be to get tires or maybe they’re starting to slow down, whatever it might be.

“I think that’s why they threw this caution is it wasn’t going to trap a lot of cars a lap down,” Hamlin continued. “They saw a car up against the wall. I don’t know if they’re really thinking about ‘well who’s on pit road? who’s gonna get screwed by this?’ They don’t have time to really think about that. They just saw a car up at the wall and threw a caution. They knew it wasn’t right in the middle of a green flag cycle.”

After the race, NASCAR Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer spoke to reporters about the incident. “If you look at the No. 8 when he went down into three, it looked he either had a right front down, or maybe a brake failure. Wasn’t really sure. That was really the deciding factor on why to throw it there,” Sawyer said.

“And then obviously the No. 5 at the end. He spun on the front straight-away, driver’s side with upcoming traffic. That’s a no-brainer, you’re going to throw that every time.”

Kyle Busch explains slow start to season

Busch has put together a legendary career, but the early stages of the 2024 season have been challenging for him. Of the seven races Busch has competed in this year, he has only finished in the top 10 twice.

“A lot of missed potential. I feel like we definitely have had cars that have been capable of running in the top ten maybe even the top five,” Busch told reporters before the Richmond race.

“I felt like we were the only guy that was close to [Kyle] Larson at Vegas and we threw it away on pit road multiple times. Then there’s been other various things of that as well too. Bristol, we were fast but I drove the tires off it one too many times, and maybe that’s why we were fast. In general, we have had some good speed.”