Denny Hamlin Crew Chief Explains Why Driver Was So Upset at Chicago

“I think it's just a problem beyond JGR and beyond anything in our team right now that we just need to get sorted and just happens,” he said. “Unfortunately is not what you want to have happen, but there was more than likely a problem out of our control that TRD I'm sure will get addressed really quickly and is doing everything they can to sort that out and come to a full conclusion with what happened and how to prevent anything like that from happening to any of the rest of us.”

Gayle was then asked about his driver’s frustration. 

“You don't need to have those kind of incidents at all,” the crew chief noted. “It doesn't matter how much time you focus on car preps and what the strategy's gonna be, what the setup's gonna be, if you can't make a lap in practice, you can't be better, you don't have anything to kind of build a notebook or know if you've made the right call before you start the race. 

“So you can't really develop in that case. And if you're in Denny's shoes, he's had quite a few instances here over the last calendar year or so and so it was just frustration on his part.”

Hamlin’s engine failed at Texas back in May, which resulted in his car catching on fire. A year ago, the No. 11 pilot made it three laps at Sonoma, where the Cup Series races this weekend, before his engine failed and a big cloud of white smoke billowed out from underneath the car.