“A bad, bad way to go”- Denny Hamlin warns against chaos in NASCAR’s most important race of the season

Denny Hamlin is worried about how the championship race would play out at Phoenix Raceway on November 10, if NASCAR overlooks Austin Dillon's controversial move at Richmond. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver further opined that letting it slide would only ruin the integrity of the sport.

Sunday's Cup Series race at the 0.75-mile racetrack in Virginia witnessed just one caution, which was enough to alter the course of the competition. Austin Dillon was poised to win before the yellow came out, but Joey Logano snatched it away in the restart. Dillon charged frantically towards the finishing line, pushed Logano and Hamlin into the wall, and bagged the victory.

Was it a fair win? Some might agree, while others might not. Denny Hamlin falls under the latter group of people. Reflecting on the incident, the Toyota icon said in a recent episode of Actions Detrimental:

"If we allow this, this is a bad, bad way to go because at Phoenix, just wipe all your competitors out. Like, if I were in the final 4, what keeps me from just crashing all three of the guys that I'm up against?"

Denny Hamlin hinted that NASCAR should act against incidents like these. According to him, one should not be able to just blatantly wreck others and say, "I did what I had to do."

"You can't allow that," Hamlin further noted. "You're ruining the integrity of our sport. So stop it right now before it gets there. Because...if you allow this egregious of an act then you open up the door for someone who's outside the cutline to just wreck someone that's in the cutline, move on, that person's out."

Denny Hamlin finished second behind Dillon on Sunday. Currently, he sits 4th in the Cup Series standings with 758 points to his name. Hamlin has won three races this season and is locked in the playoffs.

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"Kind of a reaction"- Austin Dillon on wrecking Denny Hamlin

During the post-race media availability, Austin Dillon told the reporters that moving Denny Hamlin was not intentional. The Richard Childress Racing driver explained that he was just trying to get Logano loose so that he could take the lead; wrecking Hamlin was not what he was planning on doing.

"I was just trying to get to him (Joey Logano). I went into turn 3 in 5th gear and drove in, trying to get him loose...got him up the track. I got the car downshifted and the car actually turned pretty good when I did that. The 11 (Denny Hamlin) was coming in, that was just kind of a reaction. The 22, you know, just trying to get him loose. The 11 was more just of a reaction."

When a reporter asked what Dillon would say if he was to be penalized and if the win was taken away from him. Dillon pointed out that it was not the first time a NASCAR driver had wrecked a fellow competitor to win a race.

"I have seen Denny and Joey make moves that have been running people off the track to win... I've seen a lot of stuff over the years in NASCAR where people move people. It's just part of our sport," he added (as reported by NBC Sports).

According to NBC Sports, NASCAR is expected to review Sunday's incident involving Dillon, Logano, and Hamlin, and announce the final verdict on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the drivers are buckling up for next week's race, the FireKeepers Casino 400, at Michigan International Speedway. The 200-lap event will air live on the USA Network and NBC Sports. Fans can listen to radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.