Denny Hamlin reveals what went wrong with disastrous fuel mishap on late pit stop at Charlotte

Denny Hamlin opened up about the fuel mishap that happened to his No. 11 car at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. After the race, Hamlin spoke to reporters about not getting enough fuel during the final stage.

“No fuel came out of the can,” Denny Hamlin said, per motorsports writer Matt Weaver. “It was plugged in. I saw that it got plugged in, but there was no fuel in the can, or there was nothing going into the car.”

Hamlin led 53 of the 600 laps and was battling William Byron for the lead. But when he learned that he was not going to have enough fuel to finish the race, Hamlin had to pit one last time, which led to him finishing 16th.

“It was fun battling up front,” Hamlin said. “Nobody could lead because everyone would get too loose. My car was better in second. Fast enough to lead, but once I led, it was too loose. We were just back and forth and obviously put on a great show.”

Denny Hamlin feels ‘crappy’ after Charlotte race

Despite the tough finish, Hamlin was happy with how his car performed in NASCAR’s longest race of the year. “I feel good about our performance, I feel crappy about how we finish,” he stated.

The P16 finish is Hamlin’s best in the last four races. Before that, the three-time Daytona 500 winner finished in the top five in four races, including back-to-back victories at Martinsville and Darlington. Hamlin was looking to win the Coca-Cola 600 for the second time in his career. He first won the Charlotte oval race in 2022, and it was one of two races he won that season.

Before this year’s Coca-Cola 600, Hamlin spoke about the No. 11 team’s recent issues. “The mechanical stuff, you can’t be worried about carrying over,” Hamlin said on the Actions Detrimental podcast. “You just do what you’re able to do as a driver, right? The mechanical stuff is something that I can’t control. The last two weeks, we had that.”