Denny Hamlin argues if NASCAR should allow cars to fuel up during red flag situations

Denny Hamlin voiced his displeasure with how NASCAR managed the red flag scenario during the New Hampshire race. Unhappy by the race being red-flagged with 82 laps remaining, Hamlin's irritation grew when the race resumed after a two-hour delay and NASCAR decided to allow a non-competitive pit stop for refueling. According to Hamlin, the move wasn't justified.

Now in his 20th Cup season, Denny Hamlin is chasing his first championship title. He currently ranks third in the driver standings, just behind Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott. Despite not leading the standings, Hamlin's season has been solid, boasting three wins along with seven top-5 and eight top-10 finishes.

Denny Hamlin was running at the front, positioned third at New Hampshire when a heavy downpour stopped the race. Frustrated by the delay, his mood didn't improve when racing resumed after two hours and 15 minutes since NASCAR allowed all drivers, regardless of their fuel status, to make a non-competitive pit stop to refuel. Appearing on the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin aired his resentments, noting: [via X]

"You had cars stay out like the 45 and you had a bunch of them take two tires or whatever. They were all short on fuel. And then when we went back racing, they said, "Okay, we're gonna have a non-competitive pit-stop. [...] That sucked!"

He added:

Because, you know, we were good on fuel. Everyone around us was not, or most of them were not. I think that if people didn't have fuel in the car you shouldn't have let them put fuel in the car. The only reason they were upfront is that they were nearly out."

Despite his displeasure with the pit stop decision, Hamlin did commend NASCAR for handling another aspect of the race well.

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Denny Hamlin lauds NASCAR for not putting the cars back on the track immediately

During the red flag after the rain stopped, NASCAR delayed the restart, leading to mixed reactions from fans and insiders. Some thought the race could have resumed sooner, but Denny Hamlin supported NASCAR’s cautious approach, emphasizing the potential risks.

"Well, could you have? Yes. Would it have been risky? Extremely yes, because we knew that heavy rain was coming. [...] But we can’t race during heavy rain and so, we’ve seen that isn’t good and visibility, we didn’t have any mud flaps on the cars, so we don’t have anything to help with spray."

He continued:

"So, I think generally speaking they made the right call to let’s just let this rain pass and then go after it after that." [7:13]

With Nashville up next, a track where Denny Hamlin has shown strong performances—including an average finish of 10.2 over three Cup starts, with one top-5 and two top-10s—expectations are high for him to be a frontrunner there as well.