3x Daytona winner Denny Hamlin defends Ross Chastain’s move in attempt to win the Great American Race

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin has stepped forward, defending Ross Chastain's questionable closing laps move to seal the top spot at the Great American Race.

After escaping the massive 23-car wreck, Ross Chastain found himself in contention with drivers such as Alex Bowman, William Byron, Austin Cindric, and Corey LaJoie in his proximity.

With just four laps remaining for the conclusion of the 200-lap run, Chastain went for the insufficiently small gap in the middle, resulting in him and Cindric spinning out on the track. While it felt like a questionable move on the surface, Denny Hamlin has something to put to the defense of the Trackhouse Racing driver.

During the Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin podcast, the 43-year-old driver opened up on Chastain's probable mindset during the race. Dirty Mo Media shared the veteran driver's views on their X (formerly Twitter) account:

"You got to wonder too in Chastain's mind. Did he think that because he got that push from the 48 [Alex Bowman]? He's probably thinking, well, certainly the 48 is not going to push me by the 24 [William Byron] on that last lap. So I need to get to the bottom of other line."

Hamlin added:

"I'm going to put my eggs in 'the Austin Cindric is going to push me to the win [basket]'. That's a good assumption because Austin Cindric, you know, been one of the best pushers. In my opinion, all week."

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Denny Hamlin emphasized his "aggression" over "patience" approach in the Daytona 500s

Patience is undoubtedly a priority in maintaining a driver's cool during the race, but 3x Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin believes that having "aggression" imbibed in the mind is a necessity for a driver running for contention at the Daytona 500.

The 23XI Racing co-owner secured back-to-back Daytona 500 wins in 2019 and 2020 after securing his maiden 500-lap race win in 2016. So, it's safe to say that the rationale behind Hamlin's opinions on "can't give up track positions" during the Great American Race is justified.

Hamlin told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) about his belief. The same was shared on their X (formerly Twitter) account:

"I think aggression wins more than patience. You just got to treat this race a little bit differently in the sense of that. While you want to be patient, in NextGen racing on superspeedways, you can't give up the track position like you used to."

The 51x NASCAR race winner added:

"So you have to be aggressive and that's going to put you in danger most of the times but someone always makes it through. You just got to be the one who makes it through."