Denny Hamlin‘s first pit stop at Charlotte cost him dearly. Two analysts now say his own team deserves much of the blame.
Steve Letarte and Kyle Petty broke down the stop on NASCAR‘s Inside the Race. Letarte, a former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief and now an NBC motorsports analyst, shared the segment on X.
“The big issue was this tire right here. He was called for a safety violation because this crew member, unfortunately, falls over and touches the ground. It could have been equipment interference as well because that tire is now to the left of the gas man. It is absolutely in the way. So a total mistake.”
The stop came under the scheduled competition caution on Lap 36 of Sunday’s Bank of America 400. Hamlin had started 12th and moved into the top 10.
A tire from Hamlin’s stop rolled toward the stall of rookie Connor Zilisch, which sat directly in front of his. A crew member fell over the wall while chasing it and interfered with Zilisch’s crew. NASCAR called a safety violation and sent Hamlin to the rear. MotorBiscuit covered the penalty as it happened.
On the same stop, the No. 11 was also boxed into its stall by Zilisch’s No. 88 crew. Letarte said Hamlin’s team should have seen that coming.
“So the first issue was a mistake. Being blocked in, this is a little bit of a lack of preparation for me. The nose of this car can come all the way here. There’s got to be 10 feet there.”
He pointed to footage of Hamlin’s crew moving its pit sign back later in the race.
“This is the pit crew re-measuring the pit box because they now realize that this team’s going to be an issue, and they’re going to move the sign back.”
Petty agreed that the Joe Gibbs Racing team carried more of the responsibility than the Trackhouse Racing crew.
“I’m going to put it back on the 11, more so. More so than I’m putting it on the 88. And this is why: because the 11 has more to lose in this situation.”
He said a title contender has to plan ahead.
“When you’ve got more to lose, you need to think one step farther. The 88 didn’t do them any favors.”
Rain canceled qualifying at Charlotte, so the lineup and pit selection were set by NASCAR’s metric. Hamlin said after the race that a qualifying session might have helped.
“I wish we would have qualified. Certainly, I felt like we could have gotten a little better pit selection,” Hamlin said, according to Jayski. He added that Zilisch’s team “worked with us the whole race” after the early trouble.
The penalty kept Hamlin from scoring any Stage 1 points. Kyle Larson won that stage. Hamlin rallied to finish fifth, one spot ahead of Larson, but Larson’s Chase lead still grew from 40 points to 49.
Hamlin is second in the standings, two points ahead of Christopher Bell. MotorBiscuit has the full standings.
The Cup Series heads to Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, Oct. 18. Four races remain in the Chase.