"He dictated the restart not me": Denny Hamlin argues Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr.'s positioning, explaining the Richmond situation
Toyota Owners 400 winner Denny Hamlin argued that Joey Logano "dictated" the race restart amidst allegations of the former jumping the green-white-checkered flag emerged.
The final two laps of the race at Richmond saw a hectic restart after Kyle Larson spun off triggering a late caution. This allowed the drivers to pit, and Denny Hamlin, who was running in third place came out of the pits ahead of the leading Martin Truex Jr. When the race got going for the final two laps, Hamlin extended the lead with ease on the inside line to win the race. However, he was accused of jumping the start and hence staying in the lead.
Speaking on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin revealed that he does not focus on the flag during a restart but on the drivers around him.
“When I'm restarting the race, I'm not looking at the flagman, I'm not looking at my dash, I'm not looking at anything. All I'm looking at is my mirror and my side peripheral, so all I'm doing is trying to time this person's run, you know, what speed is the outside car going and then I'm looking in the mirror to see okay how close is the car behind me."
“Clearly Joey is laying back and you know if we really want to get into techn technicalities you should not be laying back but he laid back enough to where I could see him start to creep towards me.”
Denny Hamlin further added that Joey Logano trying to 'creep' up, as he mentioned, was the reason he pushed out on the track at the time of the restart. Also blaming the #19 Toyota, Martin Truex Jr. for the same move.
“Now at that point, I'm thinkng in my head, ‘I'm not going to let him roll to me’ and then as soon as the gap closes, take off because then he's got an advantage he's going to be pushing me. He's going to pull out of line, you know, he dictated the restart not me, and the same with the 19. I saw him he was back on my right around my door and I saw him creeping forward.”
Denny Hamlin appreciates his pit crew after second Championship win in 2024
The Joe Gibbs driver moved up to third place in the championship with his second victory in Richmond. His initial championship win in the season was at Bristol earlier, although he also won the pre-season Busch Light Clash, but that does not count in the championship.
Denny Hamlin looks strong in the chase for the championship this season, not having won once since his debut. Speaking to the media after the race, he revealed how his pit crew helped him clinch the victory over Martin Truex. He said, as Motorsport quoted:
"I’ve had the best pit crew all year long. I loved our chances. We still had Martin [Truex Jr.] – he was the deserving race winner there, but you give these pit crews an opportunity – this is what it is all about. You have to have your whole team put together – and they just killed it today."
Joey Logano finished the race in second place and a late lunge from Kyle Larson helped him take the third place from Martin Truex Jr.