“That’s not true”: Denny Hamlin rejects NASCAR’s explanation for not throwing a caution in time at IMS

Denny Hamlin voiced his disagreement with NASCAR's explanation of their decision not to wave the caution flag on the final lap. The #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver felt that the officials had ample time to make a different call, yet chose not to.

Earlier in the race, Hamlin's day had already taken a turn for the worse. After running out of fuel on Lap 161 and making a pit stop, he was involved in an accident. It occurred when Daniel Hemric and John Hunter Nemechek crashed into the inside wall, causing their cars to ricochet into Chase Briscoe and Hamlin’s vehicle. Hamlin finally finished P32.

Meanwhile, during the final lap, Ryan Preece's car spun out after losing grip. Despite this, NASCAR did not furl the caution flag. Post-race, NASCAR's executive vice president of competition, Elton Sawyer, responded to questions about this contentious decision via NASCAR:

"We did everything we possibly could. We kept an eye on the 41. He got turned around. He was really giving a solid effort and once he came to a stop and we could tell that he had, I think, a flat left-rear tire he wasn’t going to move. We’d already taken the white, we just couldn’t run by there again. So it was unfortunate, but it was the right call."

Disagreeing with NASCAR's answer on his podcast Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin questioned the response given by Elton Sawyer about the decision not to call a caution:

"I was like... This is going to be a caution. There's a caution. Because he stopped. [...] And Elton Sawyer says, 'Well, by the time that we saw that the '40-one was not able to move, we had already crossed the start/finish line.' Ugh wrong. That's not true.

He was not moving when they were coming off turn 4 here resigned to sitting there. Through turns 4, he stops. He just says, "All right, I'm..." I'm not gonna go anywhere. So they had roughly... eight seconds. to make a call there. And they didn't."

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How did the incident play out in the Indianapolis NASCAR Cup race?

Kyle Larson seized a second chance to claim victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this season. The 2021 Cup champion was among the few drivers who opted for a safer fuel strategy, taking the lead at the beginning of the first overtime when Brad Keselowski (RFK Ford) needed to pit for fuel.

But then a major crash involving multiple cars ensued behind the leaders, causing a 17-minute red flag to repair a section of the retaining wall. This pushed the race into a second overtime. The #5 took the lead again, but the action didn't stop there as Ryan Preece hit the wall after getting spun.

Despite the chaos, NASCAR initially held back the yellow caution flag, believing Preece—who had been involved in a wreck that affected William Byron in Stage 2—would manage to keep moving. However, the Stewart Haas Ford stalled on the track, ultimately triggering a caution on the final lap that brought Larson’s victory.