SPEEDWAY, Ind. — For years, Denny Hamlin hasn’t sugarcoated his affinity for Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Multiple times over his career, he’s experienced bitter defeat in the Brickyard 400.
That sorrow continued Sunday.
The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team went the extra mile to prepare for Indianapolis. Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gabehart knows how badly Hamlin wants to kiss the yard of bricks, so in a strategy-filled race, he called the race in hopes of giving Hamlin a shot at the end.
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All was swell for Hamlin in the early portion. He earned his sixth stage victory of the season in Stage 1, holding off a hard-charging Kyle Larson. The No. 11 Toyota began the second stage buried with track position but made quick work and sliced up to third, trailing only Bubba Wallace and Chase Elliott.
On a Lap 110 restart, Carson Hocevar dove into the middle of a three-wide battle. The No. 77 car made contact with Ryan Blaney, turning the No. 12 car into seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, who collected Joey Logano. During that caution period, Gabehart put his dice on the table, calling Hamlin to pit road, believing he needed a few cautions to go the distance on fuel.
“The problem is, fast cars burn a lot of fuel,” Gabehart told NASCAR.com. “Cars and drivers that aren’t in contention, when they get cautions, they figure out how to parlay those cautions into opportunities. It’s hard to be a fast car running up front and take advantage of all the opportunities out there.”
Restarting outside the top 15, Hamlin sliced through the field. Martin Truex Jr. wrecked on Lap 125 to bring out a caution, allowing the No. 11 Toyota to shut the engine off and save fuel. Hamlin’s strategy diverted to driving hard after the restart, unless he got stuck in traffic. Hamlin made little progress, leading Gabehart to call an audible and go into fuel-savings mode.
With a few laps remaining in regulation, Kyle Busch spun underneath Hamlin entering Turn 3 to bring out the caution, sending the race to overtime. Believing there would be multiple green-white-checkered finishes, Gabehart had Hamlin pit, making sure there was no question about whether he could make it to the end on fuel.
“I try not to make decisions based on pure emotion,” Gabehart said. “My feeling was if we had one green-white-checkered in the tank, it was going to be close. And the chances of a restart wreck are really high. So, if I got my pitting out of the way early then you have another restart wreck, like we did, then we’re in a lot better spot for those that either pitted in front of us because they know they can’t make it or the ensuing wrecks are going to happen.”
That instinct was correct. Entering Turn 1, Daniel Hemric and John Hunter Nemechek collided, ricocheting the No. 42 car off the inside wall and into traffic. Hamlin was pinned up against the wall and clobbered Nemechek.
Hamlin was credited with a 32nd-place finish.
“I couldn’t see,” Hamlin said of the wreck. “There was a car coming across the track and I hit [Nemechek].”
The cautions didn’t fall right for Hamlin and ultimately it was his caution that ended the chance at winning a fourth race in 2024.
“That’s just part of stage racing at a strategic race track like this,” Gabehart said. “It’s hard to cover all the bases, and unfortunately, we just didn’t get the cautions.”
For the 16th time, Hamlin missed out on winning the crown jewel race. He will have to wait at least another year to join the short list that contains Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt — drivers who have all won the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, Southern 500 and Brickyard 400.