William Byron had a strong reaction to Denny Hamlin‘s tough pit road stop during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway. At the end of the first stage, Byron spoke to his team about Hamlin’s pit road stop.
“They really f***ed him up there, didn’t they?” William Byron said, per Jeff Gluck of The Athletic. Hamlin had a very pit stop during the stage break (15 seconds) and had a problem on the right rear of his No. 11 Toyota. He was also penalized for speeding on pit road.
Denny Hamlin came into the race as the favorite to win. He has won five NASCAR Cup Series races at the track, including three victories in the Cook Out 400.
Hamlin dealt with issues at the start of this year’s Richmond race, but he’s hoping there’s no controversy when it comes to the finish. This weekend, the three-time Daytona 500 winner spoke to the media about last year’s race, which featured Austin Dillon winning after wrecking Hamlin and Joey Logano.
Denny Hamlin looks back at last year’s Richmond race
“I mean, yes. It’s just, it’s disappointing from my standpoint, but I wasn’t going to win the race anyway, had it not… You know, it was like, I had about a one-second period where I was supposed to win, and the other time I was not,” Hamlin said. ” So, it wasn’t like the race I had here in 08 where we led the entire race and then you don’t end up winning. Those are a little bit harder than the ones where it’s like, ‘I’m going to win! Oh, no, I’m not.’ So, yeah, you know, it’s just wild. It’s wild how it turned out when you hear all the radio back. Now, looking back on it, it was just a wild moment.”
Denny Hamlin is still in a good position when it comes to the playoffs. He is tied with Shane van Gisbergen for the most race wins this year (four) and is first in playoff points (24). Hamlin is looking to win his first Cup championship to put a stamp on his legendary career.
On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this story.
