Hamlin's restart sputter a result of water in fuel cell

HAMPTON, Ga. -- It turns out there was something left in Denny Hamlin's tank at the end of Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500. Unfortunately, it wasn't all fuel.

"All day we'd been getting water in our fuel," Hamlin said. "The water displaces fuel and so we weren't getting the full potential of fuel. We just took it apart again and pulled some gas out of the fuel cell and once again, we got water."

When the rest of the lead-lap leaders pitted on Lap 319 following Johnny Sauter's crash, Hamlin stayed out with what he thought was enough fuel to go the remaining distance.

Lap-by-Lap: Atlanta

Confused about late-race chaos when Denny Hamlin's car wouldn't pick up the fuel? Read how it all unfolded.

• Lap-by-Lap, click here
• Video Highlights, click here

But on the ensuing restart, his No. 11 Chevrolet refused to accelerate, setting off a scramble as the trailing cars went into avoidance mode. Unfortunately for Martin Truex Jr., while the rest of the field was able to dodge Hamlin's stricken car, he ran smack dab into its trunk, ending the day for both drivers.

"Actually off of Turn 4, when I actually hit the gas, it took off and then it stopped," Hamlin said. "It took off and stopped. Usually when that happens, it will go ahead and take off. But when it actually cut off, I pulled down to the middle.

"These guys had already started making their way underneath of me and I was just waiting on a hit from behind. And I saw Martin coming. It's just tough for those guys. I'd fix their car if I had to."

Sunoco officials checked the fuel pumps at Atlanta Motor Speedway and found no contamination, but that doesn't make Hamlin feel any better.

"Well, I don't know the certain situation of how it got there, but we just pulled what we had out of the carburetor out and it was a very, very good amount of water in there," he said. "Even the bolts are oxidized, so that tells you right there that there was water in the carburetor.

"So, you can check the pumps, but the car is what's burning this fuel. We had some issues earlier in the race with the car stopping down the straightaway. I felt it hesitating. So they said we got water that run. Evidently we got it in the second to the last run too, and it displaced the fuel that we needed to go to the end."

Hamlin has to wonder what he has to do to change his luck. Since the Chase began, he's finished 20th or worse four times.

"I'm not that frustrated because I'm used to it," Hamlin said. "The last eight weeks have been like this for us. So, it's just one of those deals. I'm happy about the way we ran. That's the one thing we can take out of here. This is the best car we've had here. This is the best that we've been. So as negative as I probably should be about [Sunday], it was a good day for us."

So could he have gone the distance? If it had been fuel instead of water, Hamlin believes he could have.

"We would have probably ran out on the checkered flag of a green-white-checkered," he said. "We should have been plenty good. There is no way we would have risked it and been that far off.

"It's just a situation where we were trying to burn water instead of fuel. I think they knew there was a problem, but there was really no way to fix it [Sunday]."