Denny Hamlin recaps ‘lackluster day’ at Darlington

Denny Hamlin was not impressed with his performance at the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday. The 43-year-old NASCAR driver recapped the race on his Actions Detrimental podcast and said he had a “lackluster” showing and was “just there.”

“We just weren’t very strong in the extra long runs, which is typically our bread and butter,” Hamlin said. “We didn’t have any indication in practice. We ran 30 laps in practice, but it really was lap 35, 40 on, we really really struggled quite a bit. And on top of that, it was really hard to pass for a very long time because all the cars were running so equal, clean air mattered. This is not a multi-lane racetrack for the most part. “

Hamlin’s “lackluster” performance resulted in his finishing fourth in the Darlington race behind Josh Berry, Ty Gibbs and winner Brad Keselowski. He’s been on a strong run recently, finishing in the top five in the last three races. Hamlin has won three races this season and is currently third in the Cup Series standings.

One of the big stories of Sunday’s race was Chris Buescher’s altercation with Tyler Reddick. Buescher had a chance to win the Goodyear 400 but was taken out of the race when Reddick bumped into him in the final laps. Buescher hit the wall and was forced to go to pit road. He then confronted Reddick after the race.

Denny Hamlin weighs in on Chris Buescher-Tyler Reddick altercation

“Had Buescher finished second, he probably doesn’t have the reaction that he had, but it’s understandable,” Hamlin said on the podcast. “He’s had a couple weeks now where he’s been thinking he’s gonna have a shot to win and it didn’t work out. And instead, it puts him back in that bubble position again. There’s obviously a lot of emotion because of the result.

“… What a win does is he doesn’t have to sweat the points anymore. … They didn’t have a great start to the season. They had a few DNFs and yes, over the last few weeks he’s been running up front. But we zoom in too many times. And I think what he’s saying there is you’re locked into the playoffs and I’m not. I think that’s what he was trying to say is that this win meant more to him and his team than the extra win for you [Reddick] and your team.”

On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this story.