Denny Hamlin agrees with NASCAR’s decision to start Richmond race on wet weather tires

Denny Hamlin ended up on top during the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway, but it was far from a guarantee at the beginning of the evening.

It was a fascinating event for NASCAR, as they started the race on wet weather tires for the first time at a points-paying event. During the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin spoke about why he agreed with NASCAR’s decision to start the race on a new tire, before switching to the slicks.

“So we started in wet weather, for the first time in a points paying — I hate it when they say, ‘Oh, this is the first time,’ it’s not the first time. We did it at North Wilkesboro. The trucks did it at Martinsville. It’s just anything that can make headlines, a history headline. Not that anyone cares. But I would just say, it was definitely, I was a little timid,” Hamlin stated. “I had little FOX interview before, and I’ve mentioned to them, it’s like, you know, ‘This is a tough thing for probably the 30% of the drivers that actually think they can win today, in the dry conditions.’ We know it’s going to be a dry race eventually. And so, how hard do you push it when you get to these, into the wet weather? Because you can make a mistake, that then well, I’m out of the race, and I never even get to race in the dry. This is an important race coming down the stretch later in the season, so I want to make sure that I keep my car intact when we get to the dry, so it — I never really push it much in the wet. Certainly didn’t here.

“But I held my position. I was happy with just holding my position. But it was interesting, for sure. I thought that the cars handled pretty well on it. It certainly did not like paint. Where you’re searching for paint in the dry, you do not want to be anywhere near it in the wet. It is just really slick.”

Evidently, Hamlin did just enough on the wet weather tires to set himself up for success later in the race. You certainly can’t argue with his strategy, as it worked out perfectly for the No. 11 team.

We’ll see when the next time NASCAR is able to bring these tires out is. Until then, Denny Hamlin’s name is going into the history books, as the only driver to win a points-paying race that started on wet weather tires.