Denny Hamlin is doing some sleuthing, believing the 0.001 seconds that separated Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher on the final lap at Kansas Speedway seems a little fishy.
During his latest Actions Detrimental podcast episode, Hamlin explained why he believes NASCAR simply made up the margin of victory, and that the No. 5 and the No. 17 might’ve finished in a dead-tie, unwilling to trust the photo produced by the governing body.
“I almost feel like the 0.001 is just a made up number at this point,” Hamlin exclaimed. “Like, how can they say it’s 0.001, if the electronics say the other way around? [It showed 0.000] on my bus, as well. I have timing and scoring in my bus, right by my couch, so I can kind of watch races and watch lap times, and pay attention to some things. It said triple zeros on mine, as well. That’s what I’m saying. I think it’s just made up. … You can’t tell time by a by a single photo. You can’t.
“You see an inch, but you don’t know. You can’t quantify that. That’s why I’m saying — if timing and scoring showed triple zeros, as a tie, like I think they just add the one on the end, just to say it was closer. Because they can’t say it’s triple zeros, because then people would say, ‘We got a tie then, it’s a tie.’ … It was pretty close to it, for sure.”
That’s certainly interesting commentary from Hamlin, especially when you consider Buescher and Larson were tied according to many scoring loops. Still, NASCAR determined via photographic evidence, using lasers as well, that Larson was the winner, and there’s no going back on that.
Nevertheless, Denny Hamlin would like to see some more convincing views. We’re sure Chris Buescher doesn’t disagree with that take either, but they’re not about to take away Kyle Larson’s trophy.
Denny Hamlin explains what went wrong for him on last lap at Kansas
Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin had control of Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, leading the field for the final restart during overtime.
Unfortunately for Hamlin, Kyle Larson was not to be stopped from claiming his second victory of the season. Larson made it three-wide going into Turn 1 between him, Hamlin and Chris Buescher, leaving Hamlin in the middle. Trapped in the middle, Hamlin was passed by both Larson and Buescher, as well as Chase Elliott and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr.
Hamlin, who finished fifth, detailed on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast what went wrong for him during the overtime restart.
“I had my own issues getting off Turn 2 on that last lap because the 19 [Truex Jr] — I was about to clear him, and I come down the track — he dumps air on the left side, I start getting tight, I see Chase coming [and] I check up because I’m like, ‘Oh f***, I don’t wanna get just killed by the 9 [Elliott] here on the outside.’ So, I get passed by both of them and I’m watching what’s going on in the front because I’m thinking, ‘Well, how do I set myself up here?’
“So, I slow down entering Turn 3 to try to get a big run off and the whole time I’m just watching those first two leaders and I’m like, ‘Are they gonna keep it off of each other? Really, like they’re not gonna make any contact through [Turns] 3 and 4?’ It was epic, for sure.”
On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this article.
More must-reads: