Denny Hamlin weighs in on Ross Chastain’s final move, wreck to end Daytona 500

Ross Chastain made the move he felt he needed to make to win the Daytona 500, but came up short.

With the field getting ready to take the white flag at Daytona, Chastain, who sat behind race leader William Byron on the outside line, tried to cut across the track to the inside line, to a spot which opened up after Austin Cindric was bumped out of line by Corey LaJoie. Cindric, however, didn’t slide completely out of line after the nudge from LaJoie. His No. 2 Ford cut right and into Chastain, sending both of them into the infield grass on the frontstretch. NASCAR threw the caution flag after Byron had crossed the start-finish line, making him the winner of the Daytona 500.

Denny Hamlin, who was taken out of contention after being involved in the “big one” on Lap 192, offered his take on Chastain’s aggressive move during the Tuesday episode of his “Actions Detrimental” podcast.

“For Chastain coming to the white there, when he had that big push, he’s thinking this is the only avenue, this is the only avenue,” Hamlin said, via Essentially Sports. “I’ve got to win this race. … I think if you slow things down a little bit and really think through it, you’ve still got two and a half miles to go and so much can happen. And he likely would’ve been if he pushed, you know, instead of trying to dive on the 24. If you push the 24, he likely would get the 24 clear.

“Then it’s a matter of does he get the push again later in the lap. But he had such a speed difference between him and the 24. He saw a gap. And he saw a gap because the seven car of Corey LaJoie and the two were, as they say, Jimmy jacking around on the bottom lane. They got each other kind of bottled up. And more than likely what Ross saw was like, ‘oh, the bottom lane’s open now I’m just gonna shoot here.’”

Ross Chastain offers no apologies for late Daytona 500 wreck, racing for win at white flag

Chastain officially finished 21st, leading the fourth-most laps of any driver (14). Though his aggressiveness didn’t quite pay off, Chastain has no regrets for making the move he felt he needed to make to win the Daytona 500.

“I took the gap, and I don’t apologize for that,” Chastain said. “I can go to sleep tonight knowing that I took the white flag, making the move to win the Daytona 500. Four years ago, it was with eight laps to go or something. I’ve got it down to one lap to go. Yeah, too aggressive, though, when you don’t finish.”