Denny Hamlin believes a late-race plan and strategy lost him the opportunity to win the Daytona 500 on Sunday since it caused him out of the front-running group.
On his podcast, Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin, the six-lap race winner claimed he believed he had a strong chance of winning up until the last pitstop cycle, when he and Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. pitted from a top-five position with 23 laps remaining.
They were supposed to re-join in tandem, but Truex used far less fuel to reach the finish line and came out of the pits too early for Hamlin to immediately draft. The Toyota duo was dropped to the back of the pack as their opponents pitted in bigger numbers and managed to gain so much time on their out-laps.
Finishing 15th and 17th, respectively, were Truex and Hamlin.
“This race is just becoming more and more unpredictable every single year,” said Hamlin. “It’s so hard to pass in these Next Gen cars on superspeedways, the racing was two-by-two, so you just can’t go to the back of the pack at any point and come back, especially towards the end of the race.
“I came out from the last pitstop in 18th and I basically told Chris [Gabehart, crew chief] ‘we’re ****ed’ – I had nowhere to go. [Before that] I thought I was in the position I needed to be, I was seventh and first non-Ford. So the last pitstop cycle happens and we just… I think we messed up. A handful of Fords pitted, literally five, and then me and Truex pitted by ourselves. I think we ****ed up.
“Truex had seven more laps of fuel than I did, so let’s say that’s a second and a half less than I need to pack my fuel cell full to get to the end. He came in behind me and we had to take a certain amount of fuel, let’s say it was five seconds of fuel.
“Truex only needed probably three seconds of fuel, so he comes off pit road two seconds ahead of me, and the time we lost not being bumper to bumper leaving the pit road, that is another two seconds of detriment – because we’re drafting as soon as we leave pit road. You can lose two seconds around that out-lap if you’re not bumper to bumper.
“Add that to the two seconds lost on pitlane, that took me from seventh or eighth to basically last. I was screwed at that point. That was a key, key moment.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the unexpected race winner, apparently made the opposite progress in the final set of pit stops, putting him in a good position to benefit from the double overtime finish and earn his first Daytona 500, according to Hamlin.
“Ricky was 20th when the [final] green flag stops started, so not a good spot,” Hamlin explained. “But he executed really well, he moved himself up the Chevy line by getting into and off pit road well, and the Chevys ran longer, so they didn’t need as much fuel to the finish, and they pitted with the bulk of cars so they linked up quicker.
“Chevy won the strategy game, in my opinion.”
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Nascar, NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity, Daytona 500, Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota, Martin Truex Jr