Martin Truex Jr. Finally Breaks Silence on Denny Hamlin Clash Over NASCAR No-Call…
For a week after walking out of the Richmond Raceway last Sunday, Martin Truex Jr. chose to stay silent about his late-race tryst with Denny Hamlin. Now in Martinsville for the next Cup Series race, he has finally opened up about where he stands with his teammate on the matter and what he thinks NASCAR ought to have done.
Asked if he was still feeling bitter about Hamlin jumping the final restart and stealing his victory, Truex Jr. said that he was past it. He said, “I clearly lost my cool and did some things I’m probably not proud of. But you move on and you go to next week and hope you can come out on top and do a better job.”
Truex Jr. was one of the most dominant drivers at Richmond, having won a stage and led 228 laps. Just when it seemed like he would be grabbing the first victory of his 2024 season, an untimely caution set off by Bubba Wallace shuffled things around. Hamlin ended up being faster in the subsequent pitstop and jumped the restart, sending Truex Jr. back the line to finish in 4th place.
Wounded by the shot, Truex Jr. nudged Hamlin’s Camry from the back repeatedly after crossing the checkered flag and made his anger known. He was pretty vocal in voicing his feelings in the post-race interviews as well, but he’d been silent about it for the entirety of the week since. Hopefully, the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates have now truly sorted things out between them.
Truex Jr. is not satisfied with NASCAR’s explanation for not penalizing Hamlin
NASCAR’s justification for not penalizing Hamlin for clearly jumping the restart was that the race was in its final stage. The Vice President of Competition, Elton Sawyer, said that had the infringement come earlier in the race they most certainly would’ve called it. Not surprisingly, there has been more disgruntlement than clarity with this statement.
Truex Jr. was asked what he thought of the promotion adopting such methods, which are seen commonly in other sports, where the referee doesn’t mind some gray rules being broken in the final moments of a game. “I don’t really think it’s a good comparison,” he said and concluded, “It’s black and white [In NASCAR]. It’s a you can or you can’t call. So I don’t really understand what the debate is all about.”
After a not-so-smooth race day in Richmond, Coach Gibbs’ men will try and reconcile things between them on the Martinsville track. Truex Jr. has qualified highest in his team at 4th place.
