Denny Hamlin says there are only two options for keeping race cars from getting airborne at Talladega Superspeedway, and neither is good.
“You have to slow us way down — like 50 mph – or you’re going to have to let us run 250 there and get spread out,” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said Monday during an event at the Concord Boys and Girls Club, which received a donation of 10 HD TVs from team sponsor Hisense. “That’s the only way to avoid these massive wrecks. The reason we’re all wrecking in horrific fashion is because if someone gets turned sideways, there’s someone else right there to lift them off.
“As long as there are 20 cars in a 1-second pack, it’s going to happen. We talk about this every two to three restrictor-plate races. There just is no fix because we haven’t done it yet. We don’t know. The only thing we can do from my standpoint and the ignorance I have is you have to slow us way down or speed us way up. We have to get spread apart. That’s the only way you’re not going to have these crazy crashes.”
Hamlin said drivers have been lobbying for lesser speeds as the better choice but cautioned drivers would “get more comfortable and give each other less room and wreck just as much” by going slower.
The Daytona 500 winner, who finished 31st Sunday in the Geico 500 after struggling with pit miscues Sunday, said the spate of violent wrecks stems from too many drivers becoming too acclimated to plate racing.
