“I wish we could do something about it”: Denny Hamlin split over fuel mileage racing in NASCAR this season

Denny Hamlin is tired of running fuel mileage races. In the latest episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver went candid on how fuel mileage strategies hurt the true essence of racing.

Last Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Brad Keselowski was well poised to win his second Brickyard 400 as he was leading the field with under five laps to go till the checkered flag. However, a caution came out on lap 159 which sent the race into overtime. Keselowski didn't have enough fuel to last the additional laps.

Despite leading the second-most number of laps in the race, Keselowski had to settle for a disappointing P21 finish just because he aimed to win without stressing about fuel mileage. On that note, Denny Hamlin explained that having to think constantly about saving fuel and going half-throttle ultimately ruins the racing experience for the drivers.

"It's frustrating because it was very similar to the Superspeedway races that we had all year," Denny Hamlin said (5:04). "I'm so tired of running fuel mileage races where we're all running half-throttle. I wish we could do something about it but...it helps you sometimes...it hurts you sometimes."

"You are one caution away from this thing going just as planned and then we got one caution but the second was like...ah s**t now that puts us in a weird fuel window where we're short so we're gonna have to save," he added (4:22).

While the race leaders had to go easy on gas, others like Kyle Larson, who were at the back of the pack, had enough fuel to keep going at full throttle. Following the first overtime restart, Larson came out upfront and grabbed the lead from Team Penske's Ryan Blaney, while Brad Keselowski committed to the pit road for a refuel.

Denny Hamlin sheds light on Kyle Larson's "one mile per hour advantage"

Ryan Blaney wasn't happy to have lost the lead to Kyle Larson after the then-leader Brad Keselowski powered down. Blaney felt he could have maintained the upper hand had NASCAR called the restart off and allowed the drivers to re-choose their starting positions. Denny Hamlin agreed on that.

"He (Larson) went and gassed it up to get even with the 12 (Blaney) right away," Hamlin said (as reported by On3.com). "Then he backed off, then he rolled a little bit of speed. When I say a little bit, it’s like a mile per hour the entire time he just kept creeping, creeping, creeping and then they fired at the same time. And then what happened was since they fired at the same time, Kyle’s got that one mile per hour advantage the whole time."

Hamlin, too, opined that Blaney could have given Larson a run for his money had he been on the bottom lane.

"It’s just one of the only racetracks we have where the bottom is significantly at an advantage," he added.

Denny Hamlin himself was one of the top five drivers on the field until Kyle Busch nudged him with two laps to go. Hamlin then went to his pit stall for a final refuel before the ensuing restart. The veteran racer got caught in a multi-car wreck shortly after, which ended his day with a DNF.