Denny Hamlin explains what went wrong on final restart of Brickyard 400

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Denny Hamlin explains what went wrong on final restart of Brickyard 400

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated Jul 27, 2026 8:51 PM ET

Denny Hamlin's shot to win Sunday's Brickyard 400 was wiped out after a poor final restart that relegated the Joe Gibbs Racing driver from the lead to fifth.

Hamlin led the field back to the green flag with 35 laps to go with Corey Heim on his outside. But while Heim had a push on the restart from Joey Logano, Hamlin had no such help from his JGR teammates in Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe.

Heim cleared Hamlin for the lead in Turn 1 and kept it despite an aggressive move from Hamlin going into Turn 2.

Denny Hamlin explains what happened at Brickyard 400

"We talk about it so much, these restarts come down to the third car," Hamlin said Monday on Actions Detrimental. "What does the third car do? He's responsible for keeping the second car close to the first car. If they start battling each other, your line's dead."

Well... that was a debacle of a restart.

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"The three Joe Gibbs Racing cars, they weren't battling each other. Bell came to me after the race and was like, 'Dude, I'm sorry. Briscoe had me jacked up.' And I said, 'I can't go! We're 500 yards from the restart zone."

Drivers cannot accelerate on a restart before the designated restart zone without incurring a penalty, as Hamlin found out at the start of the May 31 race at Nashville.

"You're pushing me into the zone, and it looks like I'm accelerating," Hamlin said. "I'm trying not to get a penalty. He's like, 'Dude, I got Briscoe me into you!' That was just a debacle of a restart. It couldn't have been worse. It couldn't have been more disorganized."

Bell went on to finish runner-up to Heim, while Briscoe and Hamlin finished fourth and fifth, respectively. With Hamlin adamant that he will retire after the 2027 season, he has only one more chance to win the Brickyard 400.

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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