Although he was still one lap down at the end of Sunday’s Busch Clash at Daytona, Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was fast—fast enough to push the heavily damaged No. 20 Camry of teammate Erik Jones to the win.
But Hamlin offered a word of caution to those who might be expecting a similar denouement at the end of Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“The difference would be that his car was so damaged, it was pushing his car back into mine,” Hamlin said. “He had such big nose damage, it kept our lock tighter than what it normally is. If you have two cars that are pretty healthy, that lock is not as strong.
“That’s not to say I won’t be seeking out wrecked cars when it comes down to the end of it, if I’m still around. It was something special which I linked up there, I knew he was in for a ride as long as he held on.”
Jones held on for the win, but just short of the finish line, Hamlin left the back bumper of Jones’ Toyota. There was speculation that defending Daytona 500 winner Hamlin might be practicing a move for Sunday’s race.
“No, I would have made the move much sooner,” Hamlin demurred. “I didn’t want to get in his checkered flag photo. I was just trying to get out of there.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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