“William Byron was going to lose”: Denny Hamlin ‘agrees’ with Christopher Bell’s ‘cheated’ Martinsville verdict 

As Denny Hamlin sat in front of the media for a pre-race press conference at Phoenix Raceway, a reporter asked if he felt his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Christopher Bell, was actually “cheated” at Martinsville Speedway. Hamlin said that although he did believe Bell was cheated out of the Championship 4, he wasn’t sure if the concerned officials were to blame.

Bell was vying for his third consecutive appearance in the coveted race. However, he fell out of contention following a penalty for riding the wall at the Virginian half-mile short track. This dropped him from 18th to 22nd, and ultimately out of the playoff picture.

Bell said he was forced into the wall as Chevy drivers Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon blocked cars from passing Hendrick Motorsports ace, William Byron.

“I could very clearly see the race manipulation and the race fixing that was going on,” Bell said as quoted by Autoweek.

Denny Hamlin sided with his teammate, but at the same time, he knew there was nothing that could have been done at the time. After all, the wall-riding move had been banned two years ago.

“I agree with them,” Denny Hamlin said. “But it's hard to put a whole lot of fault on those that did it because they're kind of doing what they're told and what they typically even not told... they just know the protocol in which it goes by so, it's really tough. Certainly, the 24 (William Byron) was in a bad spot and then (was) going to lose many spots until they let up so it is what it is.”

Both Bell and Hamlin will try to bag their fourth win of the year at Phoenix Raceway. The race is scheduled for November 10th, 3 pm ET onwards.

“They ruined superspeedway racing”- Denny Hamlin takes a jibe at manufacturers

In a recent episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin talked about how the manufacturers had “too much say” in the outcomes of races in the NextGen era. However, there’s perhaps not a lot that can be done to remedy the situation.

“We’ve been saying this for quite some time. Manufacturers have way too much say in the outcomes of these races," Denny Hamlin noted (via si.com) “The manufacturers, I’m part of one, but they ruined superspeedway racing.”

In Hamlin's words, the manufacturers are the ones responsible for getting NASCAR their “bread and butter”. Therefore, NASCAR will not penalize the existing manufacturers, especially when they have been trying to get a new one into the sport for a long time now.

"I don’t know what you do about this, because NASCAR is not going to do anything to the manufacturers. That is their bread and butter. They do not want to do anything that upsets manufacturers. They’ve been trying for a decade now or better to get another one in our sport, and they certainly cannot afford for one to leave.”

The only way out of this situation is perhaps docking manufacturer series points, Hamlin further observed.