At the end of Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota blew a right front tire and rocketed into the Turn 4 wall.
The car erupted in flames, and with smoke billowing out of the cockpit, Hamlin steered his Camry toward pit road and hastily climbed out of the driver’s-side window.
“It was big, for sure,” Hamlin said after a mandatory visit to the infield care center. “It was the last corner, and I think the red flag (signaling the end of practice) had been out for a minute or so. We had just got into Turn 1 when the red went out, and we were going to finish our lap.
“It just blew a right front. We hadn’t seen any wear issues, so we might have run something over or whatever. Definitely got my attention.”
A four-time winner this season, Hamlin will start Sunday’s Big Machine 400 from the rear of the field in a backup car.
“The good news is that I think our backup is an OK car,” Hamlin said. “We’ll go to work and come from the back—again—and see if we can’t win another one.”
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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